We all had a blast this Halloween. Melinda and I, quite some time ago, were trying to decide how we could decorate the house. Since we live on Pirates Lane, Melinda had the idea of making it look like a pirate ship and we could all be pirates. Alas, this was not meant to be. It simply would have been too time consuming to make the modifications required to pull it off without it looking hokey. Also, in a nearby neighborhood someone beat us to the punch. They had a boat on their front lawn (scaled back but very nicely made), a couple of iron maidens, and several pirates. Oh well. While mowing the lawn I had a thought. The two windows upstairs on our house look sort of like eyes and the front porch looks like a wide gaping maw. Then I remembered a whole bunch of scrap plywood that was left in the garage when we moved in (to board up the windows in case of a hurricane). Eureka! Meet Monster House. (Click for full size)
Halloween is, of course, Melinda and my anniversary. (Melinda and my? Is that right?) So I started off the day with a nice breakfast.
Drake slept a little bit late to have a nice warm breakfast. So he got stuck with cold brains. Poor kid. The candy made up for it. The rest of the day went by very quickly. I had some last minute preparations for the house (setting up the fog machine and a radio outside for the creepy sound fx) and I was able to finish that while the kids were napping. Georgia and her mother Kelly came over in the early evening so that they could go trick or treating with Drake and Scout. Drake, unfortunately, woke up from his nap on the wrong side of the bed and wanted nothing to do with his costume. After some coaxing from his mother he emerged in his costume except he insisted on wearing his T-shirt instead of the costume shirt. So, he was a surf pirate. Whatever, it still looked good. Scout made it into her Banshee costume with little fussing and we decided to do the trick-or-treating before dinner. Interestingly, Melinda and I have zero pictures of the kids all dressed up. My father took several so maybe I can get a few from him the next time I see him.
Betty and her two kids showed up evidently because Kelly invited them. Not the most pleasant family to be around and I hoped that it wouldn’t cause any grief for Drake or Scout. Drake tends to ignore those kids now so it wasn’t likely going to be a problem. A few houses into the trip Scout got hungry so I had to go home and get her some dinner. I had a good time answering the door for folks too. I was wearing my costume which consisted of the robes I wore at my wedding, red eye lenses, and horns. The horns were a bitch to get to stay on. I tried using the spirit gum that came with them but after a while I gave up. Super glue works much better.
Melinda, Drake, Kelly, and Georgia all made it back safely and they all seemed to have a good time. Drake amassed quite a horde of candy. I’m already thinking of ways to decorate for next year. I *really* like Halloween.
