Ranking just below Christmas, Halloween is my second favorite holiday of the year. It could be the cooling weather, or the crafting of costumes, or that the entire month of October turns into a conglomerate celebration: Falloween. We don't have the dramatic color changes or larger-than-life Fall festivals we had back in Virginia, but we're finding ways to celebrate. This year, we explored local farms and parks in the Silicon Valley.
Did you know that the entire Silicon Valley used to be a bunch of fruit and nut orchards? And before that, a sparse grouping of ranchos for cattle? Emma Prusch Park in San Jose helps remind us of our agrarian roots, housing a working community garden, barn, farm animals, and educational programs for all.
Lots of geese, chickens, and peafowl roam the playgrounds. They knew Anders meant trouble.
We even brought the kids bikes to ride around on the paved trails. Bike riding is an uncommon event for many city kids.
Just last weekend we finally got around to visiting Ardenwood Farm, a 19th century family farm in Fremont.
Mattias jetted back to Virginia for work and left me and the kids in Milpitas. The boys were pretty well behaved but they do get rowdy. Anders was overly adventurous and scuffed up his face.
There was a granary where kids help with farm chores. Here the boys are grinding corn, which they were able to walk over and feed to the goats.
For the first time in 2 years we handmade our family costumes! By the boys' request we were all Star Wars characters and thanks to Kerstin's sewing skills we pulled it off! Here we are as Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kanobi, R2D2 and a couple of Ewoks.
The trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was lively and fun. Lots of houses had fun decorations, and lots of young adults made a night out of hanging out on the porch, drinking, and handing candy out to our kids.
I was pleasantly surprised that some houses were giving out little cocktails "treats" to the parents. The mulled wine and dark n stormy kept my body warm, and my attitude upbeat.
It didn't take long for Anders to enter sugar melt down (we kept him quiet by feeding him candy in the stroller) and I was exhausted from the day's events. Seriously, they should just cancel school on Halloween since the entire day is dedicated to classroom parties and the school-wide costume parade.
First order of business upon returning home is scoping out the loot! We let them eat 3 pieces before going to bed, when both boys declared that Halloween is almost as awesome as Christmas.
