Halloween Round-up

As major Fall Freaks, or shall we say Halloweinies, it took a full week to fit in all the Halloween Festivities we had planned.

Maybe I went a little overboard in the celebration but I figure we only have so many years of fun before Linus starts rolling his eyes and groaning when his parents suggest a trip to the pumpkin patch. This year, we did it all.

First, we took a ride on the Halloween Express in Bonsal, NC. It's part of the New Hope Valley Railway's Autumn train riding schedule. It involved a 45+ minute train ride complete with creepy floating heads, ghostly shapes concealed in the woods, a decapitated stranger wondering the tracks, and a mini vampire skit. The chills were quite tame for the adult set and Linus, ever the fearless one, was not even fazed. He preferred the train aspect of the trip over the Halloween scares. His favorite part being when our train crossed paths with the "Haunted Engine" and we got to watch a real train traveling along side of us. Despite the rainy conditions, the trip was an enjoyable kick-off the Halloween Week.

The following day, we attended the now annual family (as in local relatives) trip to Ganyard Hill Farms Pumpkin Patch. This year we went in for the full meal deal complete with a corn "sandbox", hay bale climb, hay rack ride, and corn field maze. We even brought home three more pumpkins to round out our orange gourd total to seven (not including the minis).

As if those festivities were not enough, we even managed to host a Boo Brunch on Halloween morning which made for a pretty scary week of Mommy. Despite Mommy's anxieties, the brunch complete with 6 little ghouls and their parents went off without a hitch and included quite a delectable menu including Cheddar-Apple Gallette, Pumpkin Bread, Webbed Eggs, and Parfaits. There was even a box of Count Chocula to munch on. The only failing of the party was that the camera was remembered only after the food was eaten. We did manage to get a few shots of the men hard at work carving pumpkins and the leftovers from the caramel apples everyone took home.

After a heavy nap session, everyone was rested up enough to hit the Northgate Park Neighborhood Halloween Block Party to do a little trick or treating, eat some OnlyBurger, and play a few games. Linus LOVED the Tunnel of Doom and went through at least five times.

After all those festivities, we came home, threw on our pajamas, and began discussing the next big holiday and how we intend to hand our little guy over to his MeeMaw and PopPop and go take a nap.