Halloween was busy, like last year.  k had a school parade and classroom festivities that I was able to attend.

k’s room mom did a nice job making the classroom festive!

Mr. B was batman!

After school we went to a community event.

n opted for shorts because is was still quite warm.

At night we took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood after a pizza party at the pool.  I practiced with them beforehand, to make sure that they would say “Trick or Treat” and “Thank you!”  However, I failed to talk to them about doorbell etiquette, and how only one person should ring the doorbell.  They both wanted to do it, so we had to keep track of whose turn it was.  This method took a while to perfect, so hopefully our neighbors were not too annoyed. 

Today, I had this funny conversation with n.

n: “Did you know that foot butter has nuts?”

L: “Foot butter? What’s that? (racking my brain)…”Oh, you mean Butterfingers?” 

n: “Yes, that’s what I meant.”

Saturday was busy for us.  After going to the Great Park, we went home, the kids took a nap, and then I took them to our local library’s Halloween story time/craft time.  That night we went to Blocktober, which was sponsored by Saddleback Irvine.  We were able to meet up with my sister’s family, so that was nice.

One thing I was excited for the kids to participate in was Trunk or Treat.  Different groups and families decorated the backs of their cars or vans and handed out candy to the kids.  Some even had games to play.  I enjoyed seeing the creative ideas.

This car was decorated by one of k’s former preschool teachers.  Cute!

One car had cupcake decorating.  That was a popular one!

There were a lot of other activities as well.  The kids had fun on the giant slide…and the rock climbing wall!

Oh yeah, and D had fun too!

Cousin j was a cute safari/explorer type person.

More bouncin’…

More slidin’…

Pretty sunset

There were even pony rides!

And we saw Junko at the end! 

It was a foggy Saturday morning. 

The Halloween celebration was supposed to start at 9:00 a.m., so we left the house at 8:30.  By the time we got in line, I would say there was a good 50 people in front of us.  We brought our canned food for Second Harvest so that the kids could do a little “extra” trick or treating.  D and I strategized about our plan of attack and we decided trick or treating first, pumpkin patch second.  D made a beeline to the trick or treating area, and he was running, pulling both kids in the wagon.

Totally not necessary.  But, out of the thousands of people that attended the event, guess who was the very first family to go through the trick of treating section?  Yep, that would be us.  I thought the trick or treating was not as good this year.  Last year the adults were given some treats too.  I understand the cutbacks, though, given the overwhelming popularity of the event. 

Next we headed to the pumpkin patch.  A line had formed by this time, but it moved fairly quickly.  They also set it up closer to the trick or treating section this year, so that was convenient. 

Next, we headed to Palm Court for the carnival-type games.  Everyone wins the small toy prizes, so the kids weren’t shy about participating.

For some reason, k was reluctant to try the cake walk, however.  Our whole family participated, so I was not sure why she did not want to.  When the music stopped, she ended up being on the same number as another boy.  Spot 16 was open, so we told her to go stand on it.  Guess which was one of the winning numbers?  16!

Her prize was three cookies, which we shared at home. 

We also watched a cooking demonstration by the self-proclaimed “Asian Martha Stewart”.  Sadly, no samples of the food were given out.  In fact, she kind of mocked us for wanting samples.  Kind of disappointing.

n was complaining he was hungry, so we bought two bags of $1 popcorn. 

After picking up k from school on Friday afternoon, I took the kids to another free food adventure.  We stood in line for 50(!) minutes to try Creamistry, a new ice cream place in Irvine.

I’ve heard the lines have been long since its opening—partly due to its popularity, and partly because each flavor is made to order using liquid nitrogen!

I was under the mistaken impression that we would each be able to choose our flavor and topping.  I thought that was why the line moved so slow.  Instead, when we reached the front of the line, there were only a handful of choices of flavors, including hazelnut chocolate, oreo, strawberry, and green apple sorbet, which they were continuously making.  Given the limited flavors, I really do not understand why the wait was so long!  But, given that it was free, I guess I should not complain.

Both kids had oreo and I chose the green apple flavor.  The consistency was nice and smooth and creamy.  It seemed to melt faster, though, and I did detect a few ice crystals.  In any case, my curiosity about the liquid nitrogen concept has been cured. 

Weekends in October, Knott’s Berry Farm has trick or treating for the kids.  k and n dressed up in their costumes from last year and had fun going to the five candy stations.

The characters dress up too!

4/5 of the stations handed out “normal” candy—m&m’s, dum dums, etc.  However, I was curious about what they were handing out at this station.

. 

We unwrapped it at home, and there were three of these strawberry marshmallow coconut cookies, very similar to ones I bought in Baja.  Interesting.

The kids refused to go on the log ride (boo), but we convinced them to go on the mine ride.  Turns out that they made the ride much more scary for Halloween.  There was even this fake spider on a string that the ride operators can make go up and down.  k thought it was real.

Our passes are almost expiring, so I wanted to make sure we watch all of the shows.  This is a Native American hoop dance that we had seen from a distance before.  This time we had front row seats. 

.