Hershey Park

We headed back to Hershey Park after Landon's football game on Saturday, October 30th. We thought it might be a bit rainy, but it ended up being a beautiful Fall day. The crowds were pretty heavy but we still got to go on quite a few rides including a few new ones this time.

Maylie and Hudson enjoy riding all the younger rider together.

Nolan was feeling a bit carsick from our drive up to Hershey so he opted out of roller coasters when we first got there. As you can tell though, he was a little bored on some of the kiddie rides!

I joined them on a few rides too!

We waited in line for a while for this car ride, but everyone enjoyed it and it was fun to do a ride together as a family!

I took the three younger kids to do the Trick or Treat Trail again. Hudson was not feeling this picture though!

Participating in one more "Park at Dark" at Hershey was a fun way to celebrate Halloween weekend!

 

Trick or Treat!

With Halloween being on a Sunday this year, we looked for a nearby neighborhood where we could Trick-or-Treat on Friday night instead. We found one near our church building called Funkstown that was holding it that night so that is where we went this year. My sister and her family were supposed to join us that evening, but one of her kid's came down with a cold that morning so they unfortunately weren't able to come with us this year. It was a windy, rainy day but cleared up for us to go that evening 

Here are all the kids ready to go!!

And the aftermath!! 

We also stopped by the church at the end of out street for their Trunk-or-Treat that evening. They had moved it all inside because of the rain, but the kids ended up with quite a bit of candy by the end of the night!

 

Pumpkin Carving Time

With our crazy schedules during Halloween week, the only time we had to carve pumpkins for most of us was Thursday right after school. I hollowed out all of the pumpkins before they got home (except for Nolan who wanted to do his own) so we could get right to work on the fun part, carving! 

I helped Hudson with a few Mickey Mouse designs using some cookie cutters as templates and then let him have at it on the back of his pumpkin. He really enjoyed himself with that little knife!

Maylie designed and carved her very own pumpkin with lots of different shapes!

Landon worked hard on his trident pumpkin in honor of Percy Jackson, his costume this year!

After removing all his pumpkin guts and seeds, Nolan finished off his pumpkin with a traditional pumpkin face!

I also experimented this year with carving my pumpkin using different designs and drill bits. It was pretty cool looking in the dark, but probably needed bigger holes to be seen better!

Here are our finished masterpieces!!

That night we headed to the school's Trunk-or-Treat held at a nearby church. This was the only picture I got that night...Hudson sitting on his first motorcycle!

 

Ward Trunk or Treat

On Wednesday, October 27th we had our Ward Halloween Party/Trunk-or-Treat. It was the first time everyone was able to wear their costumes for this year.

Maylie was beautiful Queen Anna in her coronation gown. She was super excited about wearing a bit of makeup that night!

Landon was Percy Jackson. I drew the logo on an orange shirt for "Camp Half Blood", we made the shield out of an old pizza pan and gold spray paint, and we bought the sword from Party City!

We were able to squeeze one more year of this adorable Dumbo costume for Hudson. He really loves elephants since his lovey is an elephant creatively named "Ellie" so this costume was perfect!

Nolan also reused a costume from last year (actually the last TWO years) as he wanted to be Jim from Troll Hunters once again! I'm all about saving money and reusing costumes!

Abby wanted to be Katniss from "Hunger Games." We were able to find the jacket and pants at a thrift store, Abby made the bow, we borrowed the arrows and sheath from Nolan (just had to spray paint the sheath black!) and she had the perfect hair and smudged up coal face to go along with it. We also added a homemade Mockingjay pin to complete the look!

Our ward had members make "Ofrendas" in memory of our loved ones who have passed away to help celebrate "Dia de los muertos" along with Halloween this year. This is what I came up with to honor my parents!

They also had games and crafts for the kids for a while and then we all went out to trunk or treat. I made up 80 treat bags and gave out every single one so there was obviously a great turnout for this activity this year!

 

Work Picnic

On Saturday, October 23rd, we went to a picnic for Jason's work down in Bridgeport, WV. His company has merged with two different groups down in West Virginia so this was a good halfway meeting place for most people who work for the company. 

They rented several bounce house structures which the younger kids all enjoyed!

The older kids and adults really enjoyed this hatchet throwing board too!

We all managed to get our axes to stick on the board so we felt very accomplished. We ate some good food and participated in a few other games while there including a money blow machine which was a huge hit with Landon and Nolan. It was a nice way to get to know some of the people that Jason works with!