Happy Halloween Trick or Treat!

Finally the day of Halloween arrived! It was windy, gusty, sprinkling rain. We were brave. We were ready. We were off! A witch, a pink chetah and a monkey, on the hunt for candy (accompanied by our protector, Papa).

We enjoyed some excellent displays all around town.

We started early and watched night fall over the street. Hundreds of costumed children and their parents stroll along gathering candy at almost every house.
This was Julia's first night time trick or treat adventure. She was into it, enjoyed every minute.
Ellie was more cautious of each house. One house had a table with a large bowl of candy next to another big bowl, with a head in it! The man had cut a hole in the table and the bowl, and sat underneath, with his head sticking up through it. He was painted with spooky make-up.
Here was a little devil beagle. So cute. We saw several dogs.
It's good we started early because eventually darkness and rain came over the night.

Some things were a bit spooky.

Lots of fire, candles and flames in the dark.

We went to two different neighborhoods. In between the girls and I took a break on the stone wall while Tom brought the car around for us.
Then we went on home and poured the candy all over the table to appreciate the great bounty of our hunt!
I know we can't really eat all this candy but it sure was fun to collect it!
I told the girls to pick three pieces of candy to eat so we could save the rest for another day. Julia quickly unwrapped her sucker selections. She put them all in her mouth at the same time of course. Luckily the dentist was handing out toothbrushes with his candy.

Happy Halloween and goodnight!

Halloween Eve

Today was the Halloween Parade at school.

Since trick or treating is done in the dark, I never realized what wonderful costumes I was missing. How nice to see them in the light of day.
Apparently there is a master puppeteer on the faculty. Awesome.

And captivating.

The kids paraded around the campus for all to see.

Thing One and Thing Two. Characters from books and film were popular. I saw several Star Wars fellows. Two or three transformers. Two or three Harry Potters.

Stripes were popular.

Happy Halloween!

Spinach Egg Bagel

I'm trying to mix up my breakfast routine with this relatively healthy (yet not low calorie) meal. So easy I can hardly call it a recipe. But here goes:

Toast a whole grain bagel.

Fry one egg. At the same time, add rough chopped spinach (any variety) to the other side of your pan.
When your egg is cooked to taste, top it with the spinach. Add 1 tablespoon of grated mozzarella (or any cheese you prefer, such as feta). Place a tablespoon of water in the other side of the pan and cover for 1 minute, to allow the cheese to melt.
Add to bagel and you're ready to eat.

Double Duty to the Sea and to the Concert

Logistical challenge for Mama today: drop off Ellie at school far from home, while babysitting Julia, and then later attend a kids singing concert at the school. The main problem was skipping nap time. And it was a problem, but a delayed one.

So the morning became an off-routine adventure for Julia and I. We went to my favorite escape location, York! First stop: Nubble Light House and the Atlantic Ocean.

The sea was all a tumble due to the recent stormy weather.

Julia and I enjoyed a thrilling show down on the rocks.

Big splasher waves are unusual here. Reminds me of good ol' San Diego where I grew up.

Julia kept saying "Big Splash!" in a funny, deep voice.

We balanced the camera on the rocks and set the auto timer to take our picture.
After getting our share of sand and surf, we headed over to my personal Disneyland, otherwise known as Stonewall Kitchen. The mother ship store in York also has a cafe. I enjoyed half a tuna sandwich (best tuna sandwich ever). Julia had fresh fruit. Miraculously, we skipped dessert.
After lunch we lingered in the gardens at S.K. for a little rest in the sun. I was hoping Julia might nap if I walked her in her carriage. Nope. I was hoping she might rest on my lap in the big wooden chair outside. Nope. I was hoping she would nap in the car ride back over to the school. Nope. I was hoping she would nap in her carriage if I pushed her around the quad before the concert. Nope. And then we went in to see the kids sing.

The music teacher was giving me visions of "The Sound of Music." I was highly impressed at her use of movement tied together with teaching concepts of music to young children. The kids performed simple yet intriguing little songs, while at the same time doing choreography reminiscent of traditional sing-song games like the farmer in the dell.
They had the show in the big room at the school, which seemed a lot smaller with all the kids and parents together. But they said the voices would fade out to nothing if we had gathered in the larger auditorium. Actually it was pretty cozy in there once everyone had a spot.
My personal favorite was the third grade group singing a song about recycling. They made hats out of recycled materials. The lyrics were very good. And then they used the technique like "row your boat" where groups of kids layer their voice parts over and around each other, if that makes any sense.
Tom survived his interview and came down for the show. Julia was happy to see him but was just too overtired to sit for much of the show. Poor Julia is a home-napper. She just isn't ready to skip nap and she can't very well nap on the road. She'll have her day at these events when she is a little older. For tomorrow's Halloween parade at 2pm... ahhhh.. yeah.. no. She'll be home sleeping instead.
And for this evening's performances, Mama will perform cupcake baking and bubble bath making.

Happy Halloween Party at the Gym!

Took my little elephant to the gym this morning, where the moms got to work out while the toddlers enjoyed a Halloween party! I did work out, briefly. Soon I was off to share the fun with all the kids!

The play center staff did a great job with advance preparations for this event.
Many games included my old favorite where you try to bite the donut off the string.
The kids were dressed in adorable costumes. They got to play bean bag toss, bowling, duckies in a pool, pin the tail on the witch, etc.
One of the highlights was when they got to go trick-or-treating around the whole health club. Usually little kids are prohibited from just about every area except the play center and the family pool. It was fun to see the aerobic instructor pause in the middle of class to hand out candy! I love how the ladies behind her are all still doing their sit ups.
Stopped by the lounge where the older ladies always gather for tea and cake. Julia is turning on the charm to get the candy.
The kids got to frost their own cookie. The chef was too cute. All the kids were super cute.
Then they got really excited when it was time to play on the tumble mats.
After jumping on the mats and stuff, they got out the giant parachute, always a thrill.

Julia was impressed.

Then we fluff it up high and all the kids run underneath! It's mayhem I tell you.

Happy Halloween!

We are getting a lot of October this year.