Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween the Monkey's big debut in her super cute costume. The neighborhood had a kids parade that I believe has been going on for a few years but obviously we didn't have a good reason to attend until now:).

So around 4pm, the Monkey, Grammie Judy, Jen, Ryan and Lily (who was a lady bug!), Mike and I wandered over to the parade and joined literally hundreds of neighbors for the big event.  Where did all of these kids come from??  (side note - when Mike and I moved into this neighborhood 7 1/2 years ago, there was not one child that lived here. Seriously - I'm not lying. There were no kids whatsoever. Now, I can't even keep track of how many there are. It's amazing. Honestly, it seems like more strollers go by the house now than cars!)

Ok, back to the parade. When we got there, we were greeted by a giant fire truck and firemen all suited up showing the kids the cool truck, hoses and inside of a real life fire engine.  What a fun surprise! The fire truck was the lead of our parade - a parade that lasted exactly 4 blocks - while kids in costumes were towed up the street in Radio Flyer wagons or jog strollers by parents who were toting along Solo cups full of beer (from the coolers stored in said wagons or jog strollers). This is our first taste of family life in neighborhood and I think we like it!

The Monkey - starring as the monkey - was such a good girl. We had to forego one of our afternoon naps in order to go to the parade so I was a little worried about how she'd do. But she was on mega stimulation mode and was completely mesmerized by all of the activity around her. Another one of those "not going to blink" outings. A complete success!  And despite the fact that it was a steamy 75 degrees, the Monkey stayed in her costume for about 30 minutes. Then we pulled it off of her - it was just too hot out to be bundled up in there. (the hat lasted about 15 minutes because it velcroed under her chin - not the best spot.)

As soon as the parade ended, the rain started - poor trick or treaters! The weather put a serious damper on the amount of kids that came around. When we got home, we met up with Gavin (a lion!), Chris, Erika and Amy. All of us hung out on the front porch with the babies watching the rain and hoping it would stop for the trick or treaters. Thankfully the rain did stop so we had maybe 20 kids, i.e. tons of candy left for my "not shrinking but growing" waistline. Great. I need to stay away from that stuff!

Without further mammer, here are pics of Halloween 2009.