Happy Boo-thday

The Bryan's love Halloween. Although we love the summer because of all the fun swimming, we are usually ready for a change and Fall in our city is awesome! It marks the beginning of a memorable time of year because we see the cooler weather creep in and this is a recipe for lots of outside fun. The boys ride their bikes, play basketball, play soccer, and run around with their friends. It is also the time of year when we get to begin having lots of fun at all of the great parks that we live by. We usually end up at one park or another once a day (sometimes twice!).

The Bryan family Halloween traditions include decorating the walkway with blinking eyes in the vines and on the windows, a collage of jack-o-lanterns, a spooky (and annoying) ghost, a scary mummy, and a big spider web. We all look forward to heralding in the holiday with a trip to the pumpkin patch where the kids can't get enough of the giant side, train, swings, and trampolines. Basically they look right past the actual pumpkins. I bet they'd even have a hard time recalling whether there were even any pumpkins involved. The neighborhood usually plays a fun game of "boo" which means you may find a goodie on your doorstep with instructions to "boo" someone else so the game keeps going and going. Carving pumpkins is always a good time. This year we decorated our pumpkins instead of carving them. Ethan did one with a birthday theme and Blake chose a baseball player. I included pictures above. Ethan's pumpkin won first prize in the first grade category for the elementary school's carving contest. He was so excited. I was at the school that day helping at the first grade carnival. I got to be there to hear his name announced and to take his picture with his friend Avery (she got 3rd place). We like to enjoy Oct. 31 with friends so this year we hosted a chili dinner and then we all (7 families) went out trick-or-treating together. The kids love it because they have a ton of fun with their friends. The adults love it because the kids love it! (Isn't that how it all works?) I think that we will make this a tradition. Halloween is a great beginning of a fun time of year...Santa is coming around the corner!