Halloween

Halloween was quite eventful this year.  It all started with a Hipster Halloween for the boys at their youth group meeting.  In case you didn't know, a hipster is:

hip·ster¹

/ˈhipstər/

noun

INFORMAL

1. a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural 

   mainstream.
2. 
   
3. The boys had a great time getting their outfits together and they looked pretty good too!  :-)

The Sunday before Halloween, the church had the kids wear their costumes to service, which the kids loved.  

The day before, Starbucks was running a special holiday drink--Witch's Brew frappacinos.  The kids love these specials--they are kind of like flash sales, here for a few days around a holiday and then gone.  Jozsef was at work, so we took a drink to him.  It was a nice break in our day.  

On Halloween proper, we studied the history of Halloween and some of the traditions, we did a few fun activities, and we even did a little art.  Then we went out for lunch.  One of the kids' favorite restaurants was having a Halloween promotion that included free lunches for kids in costume.  So, of course, we went.  We had a great lunch.  

Later in the afternoon, we headed out to a city celebration called Kidfest.  It's a great venue with vendors, games, music, and just plain community fun for kids to attend in costume.  

We had a Special Ops Soldier, Pocahontas, a Cow, Moana, and a Gorilla

And we also had Groot.  :-) 

It's way more fun than trick-or-treating and the kids come home with all kinds of goodies.  

Two of their favorite games are the balloon pump race

Who can pump the balloon up fast enough to be the first to pop? It's a fierce race!

and an apple game that puts a clean twist on bobbing for apples.  The prize for the apple game is the apple you snagged cut up and drizzled with caramel.  It's fantastic! 

We got a great surprise at the festival--we were told that each child that went to a local place called Stars and Strikes, in costume, would get a free $10 game card.  So we had a small change of plans--we didn't go straight home after the festival--we went to Stars and Strikes.  :-)  The kids got their game cards and we stayed and played awhile.  We had a really good time and were thankful for the detour.  

He found giant cards to play with and he thought they were really cool

Old school video games on the big screen were an extra thrill for John to share with the kids

They had the Jurassic Park game--his favorite!

After the festival, we returned home for a finger-food dinner and a viewing of the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans.  It was great! Wow, what a day!