Halloween 2010

We had a busy Halloween season this year, as you can tell from the pictures below. Caleb was a pirate this year and Ella was the most adorable ladybug for her first Halloween. The whole week was full of activities. Caleb made ghost cookies with Auntie Dua...they had a fun party at daycare..and we carved pumpkins at home. Caleb was insistent that we each have our own pumpkin (our pump-quin as he calls them) but he ended up settling for sharing one with Mommy, while Ella shared one with Daddy...less carving for us (not the biggest fans of carving pumpkins at our house!).

On Saturday, the day before Halloween, my work was participating in the Halloween parade. I work at First National Bank of Elk River's Anoka office and Anoka is the offical Halloween capital of the world (even Congress says so!). The Anoka Grand Day parade is a huge deal for this community. I had never been before but was excited to be involved in such an activity. The bank had a float with the theme, "enchanted forest" and we were all dressed up (I was a pirate, too). Caleb was so excited for this and had so much fun! We got to hang out in the staging area, which alone was fun...seeing all the floats and people dressed up. Once the parade got going I was in for a big surprise. It was a HUGE deal..people were lined up in the streets, more people than I've ever seen at a parade, including the big torchlight Aquatennial parade in downtown Minneapolis. Caleb rode on the float with the other little kids and I was walking with my co-workers...more like running, to keep up with the fast moving parade and the huge crowds of kids in costume asking for candy. Before we knew it the parade was over and we walked back to find my parents and Dua sitting towards the end of the route. We were able to watch the rest of the parade, which was so much fun! It was hilarious to see all the people in costume. We will look forward to next year's parade, too.

On Halloween, I took the kids to my parents' house and we went to visit my Aunt Louise, Uncle Ray and cousin Angela. My cousin Jenna came over too with her daughter, Kate, in a cute flower costume. Ella loved the baby and the costume, too. We also stopped at my brother's house and Caleb went trick or treating around there. He was confused when we kept going to different houses, he said 'but these people aren't Uncle Joey's neighbors!' He had a great time!