Well, we went from summer to winter within the span of a few hours, which made for a bitterly cold Halloween weekend. It’s enough to make me glad we got as much park time with the kids as we did.
Aaron returned to Royal Rangers last week and got to have some fun playing chess with the other boys. I was quite glad I’d taught Aaron how to play a couple years in advance, so he was quite adept at playing on his own. He even managed a few moves I wasn’t quite aware of myself, such as castling and then redeemed a few pieces by getting his pawns all the way across the board. He wound up beating Donatello in a 45 minute match that lasted well after all the other boys had left, but it was quite fun to watch (and agony for one older volunteer who hardly stand not being able to point out a few moves).
I got some extra time on my bike in the meantime before temperatures dropped below freezing by the end of the week, taking in some of the lovely fall colors along the Field Club Trail. I also took in what was left of our tomato crop along with a few clippings of our cherry tomatoes, basil, and Thai basil, hoping to get them to re-root through the winter. I actually fed Harold a good portion of our Thai basil, which he seemed to love. It all came from one sprig I got with some pho back in January, and I was quite happy to put it to good use.
On Friday evening, we stopped by Grace Bible Church, which had a trunk-or-treat out in the Southroads parking lot. Each station seemed to be set up with some kind of game, ranging from walking a plank, to ring toss, to a shooting gallery, to picking Shrek’s nose, among other things. The kids got a good share of candy from the games outside and then got to play a few more games inside, where it was warmer. Aaron got to throw some “axes” and Hannah adopted a few tiny “pets” from another station. Then we got some hot dogs for dinner before the kids played on an inflatable obstacle course for a bit.
Whenever I visit Southroads, I’m reminded of all the big shopping malls I visited in the pats, and I told Hannah if she’d grown in my generation, she’d be spending every Saturday hanging out there with her friend Sammy. It was a concept I don’t think she was able to grasp.
On Saturday, I paid a visit to my parents to catch up a bit and have some Chinese food from Golden Bowl for lunch. Uncle Nathan also came by with some produce from his garden, so I returned home with a tomato, a water melon, and an acorn squash for later.
Then that evening, we drove up to the Rector Ranch in Fort Calhoun to celebrate some birthday celebrations — a belated 40th for Tamra and a 70th for her dad (whose birthday was, in fact, on Saturday). We got to have some brisket and baked beans and a Twin Bing Beer catch up with a handful of our friends (all of whom we’d seen a week earlier at Jenny’s house) over a risqué game of Telestrations After Dark. Our kids got to play together in the meantime, though we had to stay mostly inside, since it was fairly frigid. That didn’t stop Aron from heading out once or twice to try out the swings, however.
Then on Sunday, we had another outdoor event gone indoors at Wildewood, as they turned a trunk-or-treat into a table-or-treat in the multipurpose room. It was around 39 and sunny outside, but I supposed some people couldn’t take the cold, so our kids go to collect candy from a handful of tables with carnival-type games and other things. Churchgoers dressed up as characters from Clue, a rainbow narwhal, and even themselves.
Hannah and the Branch helped made some decorations, and she and Vivian spent an hour or two making balloon art for everyone. Aaron got sugared up with candy and hot cocoa, and I took him to get some gas with Grammy and say hello to Bella halfway through the event. Then we headed home to warm up with some chili for the evening.
Halloween night wasn’t any warmer, of course, but our kids still dressed up and made the rounds to a couple houses in our neighborhood. We paid a visit to Bob next door and Betty across the street, and then we hit my parents’ neighborhood a block over, saying hello to them and Uncle Jonny and letting the kids show them their costumes in their living room.
Then we went up the road to see Grammy and Pop-Pop at their house and paid a visit to a few of their neighbors, including Tom next door, who had full-size Snickers and glow sticks for the kids. We went to a few other houses up the street before we finally had to warm back up in the car. Then we visited one famously decorated house up the street before heading home and calling it a night.
