Brielle and Ronan blog: Halloween 2020, and the past 2 months

We've always loved Halloween. One reason I wanted to move back to Florida was to give our kids more of a fall experience like I had - beautiful weather, and the ability to trick-or-treat on Halloween without walking through pouring rain. In Oregon we had the famous "Halloween Room", with an entire room fully decorated for Halloween (thanks to Kraig). We'd set it up at the beginning of October and enjoy it for a full month. Here, Kraig decorates the entire front living room. We miss being able to go to true pumpkin patches, but we've found other farm-based fall activities to enjoy.

Although the "pumpkin patch" we went to didn't grow pumpkins, they had a bunch for sale. The kids picked one out and we enjoyed removing and cooking the pumpkin seeds. I asked them how they wanted to carve it, and they decided they wanted me to make a carving of Ginny this year.

My favorite Halloween celebration here is the "Trunk-or-Treat" at the elementary school. Our "haunted vending machine" was a hit last year, so we kept it in the garage to use it again. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the event was cancelled. But, Kraig and Ronan's Cub Scout group had their own trunk-or-treat after a meeting one night. There were only about a dozen kids there, but they had a blast. Since the other kids go to a different elementary school, they hadn't seen the haunted vending machine before and were surprised. It was the first chance for the kids to wear their costumes in public. Brielle was a witch with a beautiful dress and hat. Ronan was a...blue blob? We were a little skeptical when he chose the outfit, but it ended up being a hit. A fan inside keeps it inflated, and he looked like a very stocky, fat, blue person. It was hilarious to see him trying to run around in it and to witness his inability to bend over to pick something up or sit down.

On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating at a different neighborhood on the island because it's a hot spot and we figured if anyone was participating in handing out candy, it would be there. We were right. It was hopping, though not as crowded as last year. That made it easy to keep our distance from others. It rained right before we started and right after we ended, so we timed it perfectly.

We found out that the growing tree in our front yard was actually a lime tree, and we picked a bunch of limes. We had plenty to give away to family and friends.

All of us enjoyed time in the pool. We had to start heating it recently, but that gives us the option of enjoying it through fall. The whole family has had fun playing pool volleyball with an inflatable net the kids received as a gift.

We've also had a few visits with friends and family. We got to meet Kai and Jessica at a park, and he marveled at the kids whizzing by on their scooters.

Kai decided to start collecting objects from the forest (e.g., leaves, acorns) to give to the kids as gifts.

We were happy to be able to visit with Granddad and Sujata, both at our house and at Granddad's house.

One Wednesday afternoon we took advantage of early release from school to visit the Alligator Farm on a weekday. Many other families had the same idea, but it was outdoors with space to keep a distance from others. Plus, almost everyone disappeared for a period of time to watch the feeding of the alligators (which we were sure Brielle would want to avoid).