Falling Back with a Halloween Hangover

Tonight we wind our clocks back here in Chicago which means for those of us with early risers .... we'll now be getting up at 5:30am vs. 6:30am ... Curse you Ben Franklin! We definitely could use the extra hour of sleep with all the Halloween festivities now complete.

Festivities that encompasses a whole week. We started off on Sunday with a trip to the pumpkin farm to get our pumpkins to carve. OK, the old pumpkin farms have evolved. They now include pony rides, tractors, petting zoo, corn mazes, 4 bouncy Jumpers and a huge bouncy slide. Really, pumpkins are now just an afterthought when visiting one of these farms. We spent the first hour doing all the activities but looking for a pumpkin. Had Chris and I known that we had the search for the perfect pumpkin in our near future ... we would have sped up the activities with the bouncer. Jet must have looked at every pumpkin in the place. We decided that Jet's second career could be evaluating pumpkins for the IL State fair next fall. It wouldn't have been so painful if the cold north wind hadn't been blowing at about 40 miles and hour. But alas, one pumpkin was picked and we were finally able to leave.
On Wednesday, Charlie's school had it's fall concert. There were pumpkin songs, fall songs and the finale .. Harvest Moon ... shouted at full volume by 4& 5 year olds. HMMMM ... not
a rendition to savor! The good news is that the concert was followed with treats, snacks and a small party. On Thursday we worked on our pumpkins. Jet and Charlie hammered colored spikes to make designs on theirs (think Lite Brite Pumpkins). I spent the afternoon carving out a pirate skull and bones into mine. It turned out really cool and I'd love to show you a picture but the rabid squirrels in our neighborhood got to it last night after the trick or treaters left. Guess they wanted a party of their own.

Well FINALLY the big day arrived ... Halloween! It was an action packed day. We started off with morning with Jet's kindergarten party. This was the one event I volunteered for in Jet's classroom. We did a craft ... QTip skeletons, read books and sang songs. The big finish was the treat ... ice cream, topped with crushed oreo's and a gummy worm. This was welcomed since the only snacks allowed on regular kindergarten days are water, fruit, veggies or cheese. Charlie had his preschool party that afternoon. We caught the parade outside the school at the end of the day. Charlie went to the party as Superman ... but that was not his only superhero costume for the day. Halloween was picture perfect from a weather standpoint ... miraculous from a Chicago standpoint. It was a balmy 70 degrees so there were no coats covering costumes this year. It brought out the kids and adults in droves. Trick or treating started at 3:30 and ended around 7 pm for the kids ... the parents gathered in driveways after the little ones were tucked in for a few treats of our own ... a glass of wine and a few cigars were lit along with the outdoor fire pits. Jet went as Racer X from Speed Racer ... don't ask me how far I had to go to get the costume of Speed Racer's brother! Charlie changed his ensemble to "The Dark Knight". We hit a few blocks in the neighborhood trick or treating then the boys agreed that on this nice day they had enough candy and time would be better spent riding up and down the sidewalks on razors and bikes. Funny that at this young age they already realize that ol man winter is right around the corner and outdoor activities will not be an option soon. Charlie actually just thought it would be cool to have his cape blowing behind him on the razor.
So this morning, at 6:30am, Charlie was up still sugar buzzing from the night before. We decided that an hour at Tae Kwon Do may burn off some of the energy. It helped but really zapped me of mine ... yes I have joined the ranks of Tae Kwon Do white belts and haven't been able to walk up stairs since. I'm feeling muscles that I've never felt before. It's fun and my new goal is black belt by age 50 ... stay tuned.