Finally the Big Day!

Nothing like waiting until the last day to carve pumpkins. :) Worked out though.

We also made these neat "jar o lanterns" by taping off faces, then painting the whole jar and taking the tape off so the light glowed through the faces.  Fun!

Got toys instead of candy this year.

Always more fun with friends.

The whole bunch, scary eyes and all!

Samhain Happenings

I normally try to do a Samhain observance the day before Halloween because that night is just too full of other amp. :)

I made a stuffed pumpkin recipe that was delicious!

Family Altar all set up with ancestor photos.

The ancestor wands really took on a life of their own with Orion this year!  After looking at the globe and talking about where our ancestors came from, he wanted to do one with colors of the flag from each country.  The simple pink one belongs to Akasha of coarse.  :)

More Fall Fun

The chickens are wild for the dried dill seeds!

We went to a local pumpkin patch since I didn't have pumpkins to carve  yet.

Is that a headlock or a hug?

I could not believe Orion wanted to ride the ponies!  He has not done that for YEARS!

And they always love a petting zoo!

Haunted Tunnels!

I have always wanted to visit the "tunnels" under Portland, so I thought the special Halloween season version would be fun.  There was alot of really interesting history on the tour, but later somebody told me this company's version is mostly bunk, and they weren't ever really any tunnels.  So not really sure what to believe about that, but it was still fun.  :)

This was supposedly an opium den.  There was also a story about a woman who was murdered  who sometimes appears in that window.  Woooooo!

These boots supposedly belong to some guys who were shanghaied.  They apparently kidnapped men, then held them down here until it was time to take them to the ships.  They would take their shoes and then leave broken glass all over the floor.  Gnarly.  :(

This was some crazy boxer that I already forgot the name of.  :)  He used to have fights down in the basement and was allegedly involved in the shanghai business as well.

This was a demonstration of the trap door that went from the bar to the basement.  They would usually target really drunk guys or men they  had even drugged!  The odd thing was those lines in the picture.  I showed them to one of the tour guides, and they asked me to  send it to the company.  Again,  woooooo!  

There was a long story about this guy, involving fooling some captain into a paying a bunch of money  for him as a shanghai victim - they had him all wrapped up in a blanket so they wouldn't realize it was a statue.  Then the ship wrecked and he ended up floating back to I can't remember exactly where.  Another one I am told is just a legend, but who knows!!!

Halloween Prep

I found this cute and easy craft online.  It is just magnetic paper that I painted and cut  into  pumpkin  shapes.  The kids  have had alot of fun with them.

Orion made this one and insisted it stay exactly like this lol.

Another fun and easy one!  Just some white cardstock and streamers and a marker.

My favorite craft from this year.  Some dowels and cheap white fabric and stuffing - a  ring of dancing ghosts!

Akasha wanted to be Kirby for Halloween this year, and I  don't have much in the say of sewing skills, but after much research on pumpkin like costumes, I came across this great idea of using a big and little shirt with stuffing in between.  I attached them with a glue gun and voila!  Who needs a needle and thread lol?

I Scream for..

Akasha has been asking and asking for ice cream lately, so I made some today. Coconut milk with honey. Yum.

Family and Akasha's Four Year Old Portraits in CA