Halloween Is Different

We loaded Braden into his wagon Sunday night and took him on his first full fledged trick or treating adventure. It was also my first trip since I quit asking strangers for candy decades ago. And in that time things have changed dramatically.

In some ways a kid can really benefit. Every church we passed by in the past week had a sign outside advertising a fall festival or a trunk or treat. In our little community there were things scheduled Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We made one of the festivals, but if a person were truly ambitious he could get enough candy to last the entire year.  All you need to do is go church hopping.

Much like a college kids efforts to find companionship and alcohol by going from bar to bar, a small child can seek out copious amounts of sugary goodness from various places of worship. By the end of the night, drunk on candy, the kids would have much the same blank stare and altered mind set as the aforementioned coeds. The day after Halloween hangover can be nasty as well.

With all these new techniques to make Halloween safer for the kids it seems like something has been lost. The feeling of community is gone just a bit. Yes you can go see your church family at the fall festival, but what about the little old lady on the corner or the guy three houses down that mows his yard three times a week? What about your neighbors?

As we went out Sunday night towing Braden behind in his wagon we were met with apathy. Most of the houses on our street were completely dark. Not only did the owners turn off the porch light to keep away little kids, but most of them turned off every light in the house as well. It was like they were huddled in the closet with a flashlight praying that no one would knock on the door. Maybe they were truly scared of Halloween goblins, but more likely they were just being anti-social sticks in the mud.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but this makes me sad. It's sad that we live in a world where people are more concerned about themselves than they are about small children. I have a son that is nearing two years old in a world where his neighbors would rather sit in darkness than give him candy. That is depressing.

Thankfully we found several houses that were open for business. And in this environment I appreciated those people all the more. You might even say they helped restore my faith in humanity. One little old lady was wearing a mask and a witches hat. She also passed out fake bugs in a failed attempt to scare the kids. We need more people like that.

I have never been a Halloween person. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for that. Kids out there deserve a day when they can get all the candy they want. They deserve to roam the streets dressed as their heroes. They deserve a great Halloween, and it is up to us to make that happen.

  

To those of you who did. Thank you. The rest of you need to get your act together. After all look how happy it made Yoda.

The Great Pumpkin

This past weekend we made it back for year two at the pumpkin patch. Last year I learned Linus was not the only person who visited a pumpkin patch. Take note that Braden brought Linus with him this year via a super awesome shirt. I also learned that the pumpkin patch was a lot of fun. Arica and I agreed visiting the land of pumpkins would certainly become a family tradition. So this year we carried on the tradition.

There were animals to pet as usual. Here is Braden with the camels. I decided to name one camel Clyde. That is of course from the Ray Stephens classic Ahab the Arab. The other camel I called Joe. Just because the US Government killed Joe Camel doesn't mean I forgot him.

Here we are with Eeyore. I know that is a cliched donkey name but this dude was so sad looking he almost made me cry. He had to be Eeyore.

If you were around last year you might recall that Braden liked riding the John Deere train. Well things have changed a little this year. Braden doesn't like the train anymore. He now loves it more than his own father. He would happily trade me away for 3 minutes on that thing. He would ride it until the driver shut down the lawn mower locomotive. Then he would play somewhere else while keeping his ears tuned for that lawnmower sound. As soon as it started up Braden would go running as he yelled "Choo Choo Train!!!"

He loved the train so much that he even made one of the poor engineers drive him all by himself.

Braden also crashed the red shirt birthday party and rode with them in the caboose.

Even though Braden didn't care they had pumpkins there too. We even took a few home. If it were up to Braden we would have driven them all the way home in the John Deere choo choo train. He would have seen the 8 hour duration as a positive thing.

Happy Halloween!

I Missed Halloween

I have been absent from blogging circles again. That is because I am once more in Sunny Scotland. Since I have been here this time I have started a new charity. It is called "Let the Children See the Sky." I started this charity after asking 100 Scottish children what color is the sky. Ninety-nine responded gray while the other kid punched me in the groin and ran away.

Of course this is all a joke, but truly can we do something to get these kids some sunshine.

This trip is nearly over, but I do have one big regret from this time away. I missed Braden's first Halloween. Arica said he got into the spirit pretty quickly. He held out his pumpkin for everyone to fill.

Below is one picture from Braden's trip to our church's Trunk or Treat. Also included are a few pics that we took of Braden before I left so I could see him in his costume.

Pumpkin Patches Are Not Just for Charlie Brown

I was visiting my friend PJ Mullen’s blog a few weeks ago when he put the thought of pumpkin patches in my head. I commented that we didn’t have things like that in small town Arkansas. Then I thought to myself that statement didn’t make much sense. If you can’t grow fruits and vegetables in rural America then where can you grow them? So I went home and asked Arica if we had any pumpkin patches in our area.

She proceeded to do some research and found that we had two within about 20 miles. She did some more reading and told me which one was the best. We went and had an awesome time. The results of our visit are detailed below.

Here we are upon arrival.

After that we visited the petting zoo. Braden did not like the horse.

He did like the rabbits.


He didn’t really care about the baby ducks. He was too busy looking at the scary chickens to his right.

Then we went to the pumpkin patch. Braden picked out two pumpkins right away.

Then we visited the hay covered playground. Braden could not go on the slide, but he had fun anyway.

Then we moved on to my favorite part of the day. The pumpkin patch had a John Deere lawn mower pulled train. The cars were made from 55 gallon drums that were painted John Deere Green and turned into train cars. There were several kids on the train. Braden was the youngest by far, and he was the only kid riding all by himself. At first I thought maybe Arica and I would be voted parents of the year by our fellow pumpkin patchers. Then the ride started and it was all ok. Braden had so much fun. He rode around the entire premises with his arm resting on the side of the cart. He smiled and laughed the whole way. The only time he got mad was when we took him out of the car at the end of the ride. It was awesome.



Finally we closed out the day with a hay ride. Braden fell asleep for part of it. Of course after all this fun he was a very tired boy.

This was my first visit to a pumpkin patch. Before this my only knowledge of a pumpkin patch was Charlie Brown camping out all night looking for the Great Pumpkin. Needless to say I had an amazing time even though we didn’t see the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or even a pumpkin pie. I am certain that this will become a family tradition for Braden, Arica, and I. When we have another rugrat we will bring them too.