This year's characters are Professor Layton (from the Nintendo mystery puzzle games) and Jane Goodall as a little girl back in the 1930s. There was a chimpanzee to go along with the costume, but he was hanging out down in the bag with the candy, looking for banana flavored taffy.
Our first stop was the nursing home that our Girl Scouts have adopted. We stopped in to see the residents, since most of them don't get out anymore. I brought candy ahead of time so they would have something to give the children, and then we left the remaining candy behind for them to enjoy.
After the nursing home we stopped by a little shopping area that is a collection of vintage houses brought together for historical preservation and retail. Here's where you'll find a knitting shop, an independent bookstore, a toy store selling European and wooden toys, a yoga studio, a chef's store, a clock repair shop, and all those other mom and pop little shops that are struggling to survive in the shadow of the big chain retailers who invade small towns.
The toy store, here giving out Japanese erasers for Halloween, is one of the few tenants doing well. So many little businesses come and go, destroying their owner's dreams and depleting their savings accounts in the process. Every year after our visit for Halloween, I return in the weeks leading up to Christmas and open my wallet in as many of these little shops as I can. Nonetheless, each Halloween it seems like there are more and more vacant storefronts.
We loved this lady outside the kitchen store who was wearing glasses made from metal strainers!
Next we headed to our little town's residential area, where for one block the neighbors are in a competition with each other to see who can outdo the other. It was truly amazing!
There were animated inflatables, things that flew and screamed, billowing dry-ice "smoke," and little details to discover everywhere you looked. You really had to spend time looking to notice everything, and of course it was a completely different experience after dark (but we didn't experience that).
Would the prospect of candy lure you through this gate?
This man was fine-tuning his ghosts, which flew above the sidewalk on a loop of fishing wire strung between pulleys mounted to his house and a telephone pole.
We asked the homeowner who made this pumpkin how long it took him to carve it, and he said 4 hours. And this was one of MANY.
Before we knew it, it was 5:30 and time to get home. Both girls did their homework (crazy teachers, don't they know kids have PLANS on Halloween?) while I whipped up dinner, we hurriedly shoveled it in while popping up to answer the door every 2 minutes, then finally at 7pm we went out into our own neighborhood.
We just LOVE seeing our neighbors all dressed up. That inflated Sumo wrestler there? She's a 42 year old mother of 4. Me? I just wore my orange pumpkin hat and called myself a pumpkin again -- easy.
After visiting about 15 neighbors, we walked over to the local church that we always go to (Am I going to Hell for only going to church on Halloween?) for their "Harvest Party." This year they had a "Lion, Witch, & the Wardrobe" theme, run by the teen youth group, and as you arrived you had to wait your turn to go into the wardrobe...
Then you were led down into the "lodge" (which used to be a sprawling private residence, but is now the church offices) in small groups. Inside you went through a series of decorated rooms, and were told the story by costumed characters.
Here we're in the "Beaver's Den." After several rooms you were taken to the main party, where carnival games were underway. Towards the end everyone was gathered and the pastor projected clips from the movie up on a high wall while talking with the kids about Jesus, and the difference between fantasy (dressing up for Halloween) and reality (being a good person at all times no matter what you look like).
Out back there was an inflatable bouncy house...
And archery, a favorite of the girls. Hey, watch out, Santa!
A always looks forward to the face paint, which is done by a professional.
A was inspired to be Aslan the Lion from the movie.
It was a good Halloween! Here are the girls at 9pm, on our porch, with their pumpkins, and 2 of our 5 current foster kittens, "Riley" & "Max".
