Trick or Treating

Owen didn’t decide until the day before that he wanted to go trick or treating so his choice of costumes was limited… I didn’t even get a picture of Katie because so much was going on.

Olive loved everyone! She would wait patiently and wouldn’t bark or go crazy.

But she loved the attention.

Of course, Katie refused to wear her wig at the last minute, so Tom put it on instead. It looked epic.

And he and Anna made a cute couple.

Harvest Fest

Today was Harvest Fest (aka Halloween) at school.

Costume choice #1 (Cruella) was scrapped last night because she couldn’t find the tank top I bought to go with it.

Costume choice #2 (2018’s Harley Quinn costume) was scrapped at 8am this morning because it was too scratchy, she couldn’t find a shirt to wear under it, and she lost all the accessories during her last sleepover.

So we went with a standby “costume” (MSU cheerleader) that she owns and wears regularly anyway.

The Santa hats aren’t working this year.

I take these pics every year. This year they just aren’t working. The hat didn’t fit. Someone can’t find their hat. They have the wrong hat. They aren’t in the mood. They don’t look cute. The lighting is off. The pics don’t turn out. They have to have the tiny hands in them…

Sigh.

So this is what we have thus far.

Halloween parade Covid-style

The Primary and Elementary schools had a drive by parade today—teachers and staff dressed up and parents could bring their costumed kids through.

Sounds nice and easy right? Whoa. It was a traffic nightmare. The school is less than five minutes away and it took us an hour round trip! I think the turnout was much larger than they expected PLUS they had both schools (across the street from one another) at the same time.

The kids also made me shake my head in frustration. I thought it would be totally cool to let them sit in the back with the gate open so everyone could see their costumes. Nope, neither wanted to do it. Like AT ALL. And once we got there Owen refused to put his mask on because he was afraid people were going to make fun of him. And I told Katie she could hang out of the window to wave and she refused. Ugh. Kids!!

Allure Day 2: Sea Day!

We didn’t get great sleep because Katie was coughing all night (even with NyQuil). The kids got up about 6:30 and I was able to ignore them until about 7—they wanted to go out and run around so I sent them out with instructions to be back by 8 for breakfast (Tom was working out and that gave me time to shower). It’s really great to be able to send them out on their own.

Tom and I had to stop to get our usual breakfast Bloody Marys (though the bar here is called Bow & Stern instead of Boot & Bonnet) and Linda joined us. We also enjoyed the people watching.

Then we introduced the kids and grandparents to the huge Windjammer buffet for breakfast.

Owen really wanted to to the flow rider so that was next. The little kids were bummed they were too small to do it but they had fun hanging out together.

He practiced twice on the boogie boards (stomach and knees) which then allowed him to upgrade to surfing at the more advanced station.

Now, just because he passed didn’t mean he was that good, LOL. It just meant that he had passed the bare minimum. Unfortunately he got super bummed on the next level because he kept falling—and they told him he was done. He misunderstood, though, and thought they meant he was DONE with the flow rider… but they just meant his turn was over. But he was also bummed because he didn’t stand up by himself and thought he was a failure. So we had to talk him down from that.

And we might have had a drink or two.

The rest of the afternoon included lunch, a veterans service (we all got medals and cake!), just hanging out around the ship, eating lunch, and watching the ice show.

Interestingly, I noticed this piece of art. Notice where it’s from?!

Tonight was also the first formal night. We were coming from the ice show so were already running behind, and then Tom realized he had forgotten his cuff links…so he ran down quick to the gift shops to buy some…and no one had any!! What?! So we were trying to figure out what he could use…and we ended up using a pair of Katie’s earrings (far from perfect but they worked for a bit). We also took formal family photos on the way into dinner…and one was good enough that I bought it!

The menu is good every night but some nights you just need to order four starters (they typically have four selections that change nightly and four “classics” that stay the same). I definitely took advantage of the Escargot many nights and Tom (and Owen) got the French Onion soup many nights.

Our server Hai was really great with the kids and was already making them balloon and napkin animals on the second night! We wondered what the rest of the week would have in store!

Owen was in the bathroom while this was happening and Aden was super sweet and made sure that she made a sword for him as well.

We took the kids to the Adventure Camp daycare after dinner with our friends’ kids and then went and hung out in our old favorite bar, Schooners. I tried to order my drink that I basically lived on last year, joking with the bartender that he had a lot to live up to…and surprisingly he was less than inviting. And I’d even go so far as to say he was a bit short with me. It was very odd, because normally all staff are very considerate and jovial and he…was not. Needless to say we didn’t go back there after that night.

But! We did have fun, as we ended up meeting our friends’ friends and their friends’ friends that night! So the eight of us just hung out talking and half singing along with the piano guy and having fun for a few hours.

The big joke was that Greg looked like Blake Shelton so I was taking “sneak shots” pointing at him behind me, saying I was going to post them on Facebook saying LOOK WHO I SAW ON MY CRUISE! (If you look closely you can see his wife laughing behind me because we set this up and he was posing.) And then he kept making fun saying JENNIFER HUDSON IS IN THE HOUSE!

Well, come to find out, he is an actual country singer! He joked that he’s famous within a 5-mile radius and I told his wife Anne that it was killing me not to be able to Google him which she found hilarious. So we just called him Blake and it was most of the night before I learned his real name was Greg. The other couple were were with—Mike and Melanie—were great, too.

Then we took a break for everyone to go get the kids from daycare. (Sidenote? They all said they hated it! Apparently all the other kids were rude and mean! No one wants to go back again!!)

And then this happened. I opted not to buy that photo.

Then we sent the kids to bed…and I made this happen because why not?!

From previous conversation, apparently Blake/Greg has a real knack for winning stuffed animals so we ended up going to the casino so the boys could try their hand at the Cash Claw game where a few of them tried unsuccessfully, of course, to win wrapped $100 stacks. It did provide us quite a bit of entertainment, though.

After we left the casino, the professional photographers were still out so we made the boys do this:

Later we determined they were the Bad Back Boys (a la Backstreet Boys grown up).

Shortly thereafter we called it a night and this is what we found when we got back to the room.

Halloween 2019

I got a new tiara… It’s for my Halloween costume, but still. Also, I obviously decided to dress up this year. Practice for this week when I am volunteering in Katie’s classroom for her party. It’s supposed to rain buckets today so fingers are crossed it holds off a bit.

Mal (from Disney’s Descendants) and Ash Ketchum (a PokĂ©mon trainer).

(It ended up training right after we started out. We had umbrellas but the kids didn’t care. But they did tire more quickly and we only stayed out about an hour and a half.)

Today is Katie’s clothes.

Today Katie and I tackled her drawers. We took each item out and decided if it was time to let it go or keep it. She did pretty well, actually, but I did have to step in a few times and prompt her to get rid of some things that were bordering on too small or that she had bigger sizes of in her closet waiting. She also learned how to fold her clothes so they would fit nicely in her drawers. She actually had fun doing it—we’d let them watch the show with us so they’d have an idea what was going on.

She wanted to get rid of this wig until I made her try it on and then she loved it. Bad move on my part. 🙂

After about two hours we had this:

Plus a packed garbage bag of clothes and shoes to give to friends!

More trick-or-treating!

The kids got a surprise second night of trick or treating, thanks to a neighbor who took them to Lake Bluff with their boys. They were thrilled with the free hot dogs and chips at the fire station plus the great candy at the big expensive houses. Owen’s first words were “I want to trick and treat there again!” Sitha, your husband rocks!

Halloween 2018

I may have tried a SeneGence cat face… and pretty much failed. I am definitely NOT an artist (this took WAY longer than it should have)…but at least I know it’s not going anywhere. 😂 Also, I’m lame. I don’t even have cat ears.

Katie has known she wanted to be Harley Quinn forever. Owen had no real direction and this is a costume I picked up at the resale shop earlier this week on a whim (I knew he’d love it but didn’t think he’d wear it for Halloween).

The girls wanted to be twins. 💕 I think Katie pulled it off slightly better since she had blonde hair and the hair colors showed up better.

The weather was actually decent and the trees were gorgeous! I had to take a pic of me with one since we don’t have any nice ones in our yard.

Tom ended up carrying the girls’ weapons pretty much from the start.

Friends had come with us, and this is the boys heading home after a successful trip.

The haul!

And sorted…because I like to see what we got the most of… AND because you have to keep the chocolate separate from the candy otherwise it gets nasty.

I have to say at first I thought it was way weird having trick-or-treating on a Saturday afternoon instead of on Halloween night… But I like that it’s in daylight and when it’s over we still have time left to chill and eat candy without having to go straight to bed.

The good thing about this year? Since the weather was nicer, we went farther into the neighborhood and they got more candy! Last year we only hit a few houses and then came home…and then felt guilty so we took them out another night in another city. This year it is one and done!

Surprise! Daddy started a fire after trick or treating! Unfortunately it started sprinkling so the kids didn’t last long… But I did get a cute pic of Katie.

A nice day means burning wood, playing outside, and s’mores

It was a nice day so Tom was burning some scrap wood and playing football with the kids…

And a little dance:

Which meant when I took a break from my Facebook party, I was sitting out there enjoying the smell. And getting the coals ready (I’d already run to the dollar store to get marshmallows for roasting).

But before s’mores there was a costume change:

And then it was time.

Uncontrollable giggling

After the movie the kids were playing downstairs. First they came up to show us some dance moves they’d been working on. Later we heard them giggling and laughing uncontrollably and we wondered what on Earth could possibly be happening. And then they came crashing upstairs, giggling all the way.

Oh. My.

They were dressed in each other’s clothes—Owen in Katie’s new pink jacket, pink kitty hat, and her Beauty and the Beast Belle heels…

And Katie in his hat and oversized coat.

But the sight of Owen in those shoes hobbling across the floor (obviously only his toes fit in so it was nearly impossible for him to walk!) and listening to them giggle made Tom and I both lose it.

Someone just spent some birthday money at Toys R Us.

We had promised the kids we’d take them shopping after Christmas to spend some of their birthday money/gift cards. (We’d postponed shopping due to the move and then we just forgot about it but when I took them Christmas shopping for each other they both obviously wanted to shop for themselves.)

I went with Katie and Tom went with Owen. They each had $35 to spend. Katie kept trading items out of the cart as she found stuff she liked better. It took her a bit to understand that she couldn’t just get everything she wanted. I had to guide her a little bit but she did well.

She loves being a mermaid. (This was a last-minute purchase that was her entire budget but she also had an expensive doll she really wanted. So to make my life easier, I let her get both and now she has used up all of her Target gift cards as well!)

I wasn’t thrilled about this huge animal but I was thrilled it wasn’t a 200-piece Shopkins set. She also got a huge 24″ Barbie-type doll so all of her gift cards are now gone (she had Target ones as well but since she went over budget, they’re now mine!).

Owen bought a bunch of random smaller stuff that I’m sure will be played with for a week and then lost. 😂 But he was happy today!

Katie’s Halloween Afternoon

While the boys were away at the game, Katie had a birthday party to go to…and some trick or treating to do. (Our city, for whatever reason, holds Halloween the Saturday before.)

She made me a mask.

  

The group of birthday trick-or-treaters. 

It was a tiny bit insane as they literally made a mad dash from house to house. It was also freezing.

  
 

And then they were all tired and cold after only 30 minutes so it was back to the house for a piñata.

A good time was had by all… And Katie even stayed to play and watch a movie so I had the house to myself…