As soon as the pop-up pumpkin patch went up and opened their doors, Nolan and I stopped in during a weekday morning to check it all out! We dressed in our Halloween gear, and because the weather cooled down a few degrees, fall weather clothing was a necessity, even though we still sweat our booties off once that sun came out! Because we went so early, lots of things still weren't ready for operation, like some of the rides, the petting zoo, and the train rides. Regardless, Nolan had a blast running around the pumpkin patch, picking out his favorites and making friends with all of the scarecrows. He was particularly fond of one scarecrow that he gave lots of hugs to, and had a long conversation with him about his day. Next up, he decided to climb the hay bales, and for the split second I looked down at my camera and back up, he was almost on the top! I had to coax him back down because I couldn't reach him and he slid all the way back on his booty... but not before taking a few pictures of how proud he was for such a climbing feat! He explored more, said Hi! to the farm animal friends and took some more pictures with all the pumpkins he loved. It was a great way to start off our fall season!
Next up halfway through the month, was Trick-or-Treating at the Springs Preserve! Nolan loved this event last year when we visited, and we were excited to continue our tradition while enjoying the fun lights and decorations throughout the Preserve. To our shock, the place was packed and we ended up going on one of the busiest nights of the season, where tickets sold out! To say it was a madhouse would be an understatement... There were lines to Trick-or-Treat and barely any room to move! We were disappointed that it wasn't more fun for Nolan, because he was super frustrated and pretty much over the craziness and crowds not even an hour into it. We made our way through the crowded Trick or Treating circuit, and headed back towards the games area where Nolan enjoyed looking at the decorations and dancing to the music, but it was so, so busy that we jetted out pretty quickly after a little less than two hours. We're hoping to go the first weekend it's offered next year, in hopes that it won't be so stressful and that we can fully enjoy all the fun things offered, like the petting zoo and train ride that we missed out on this year!
The following week, we met Jason after he got off work on a Tuesday night to check out Opportunity Village's HallOVeen event. We had never experienced this place for Halloween or Christmas, so we weren't too sure how it would be and didn't hold too high of expectations, especially after our chaos at Springs Preserve. To our surprise, yet another time, it was awesome! We were definitely impressed and Nolan really enjoyed everything about this place! Going during the week was great because it wasn't too busy, and we got to take our time and enjoy everything offered throughout the park. When we entered, we made our way through the start of the festive lights and Nolan did some Trick-or-Treating. We decided to grab some tickets for some rides, and after walking around for a bit, admiring all the decorations, we rode the train, which Nolan was in awe of. He didn't say much through the ride, but loved every second of it because as soon as we got off, he asked for More! and Again! Through the train ride, there were so many decorations and lights to look at, and even a cool cave decked out with spiderwebs, spiders and bats. Afterwards, Nolan loved walking through the Haunted Trail, where more lights and decorations were on every.single.inch. of the walking trail! Trees were covered in full Halloween decorations and there were lots of blow-ups that Nolan loved to see. Before we left, we took a ride on the Merry-Go-Round, where Nolan looked terrified during his ride, but must have liked it because he didn't want to get off and also asked to go back on again! This place was a great, new event that we will be adding to our list of things to do each Halloween, and we can't wait to check it out for the Christmas season, too!
A few days before Halloween, St. Rose Women's Center put on a cute event called Teenie Halloweenie right before our Dancing With Miss Jenny class, so we decided to check it out with our friends Jamie and Coen. Nolan started off the event by chasing the birds... always a fun time. There was a mini pumpkin patch set up for the kiddos to pick one free pumpkin, which was super cute, and of course the boys only wanted the inflatable toy pumpkins. After convincing them to grab a real one, they booked it to the playground to run around and give us heart-attacks on the play structures, climbing, sliding and running around like maniacs. We made our way over to the games, with bouncing animals, huge balls to push and kick, and some fun tunnels to crawl through. It was a great way to get some energy out of these two boys before class!
Later that night, we met back up with Jamie, Victor and Coen at Black Mountain's Trunk or Treat. Nolan quickly caught on that going from car to car with his bucket meant getting candy, and after each person dropped their goodies in his bucket, he had to take each piece out and inspect it, as well as taste each one, shoveling them into his mouth. It was definitely a process to show him that we keep our candy in the bucket until later... and we may have had some candy eaten here and there throughout the night! There was a DJ (DJ Tony- our DJ from our wedding, go figure) that played music for the kids to dance to, and Coen totally got his groove on while Nolan kept it serious and just kind of stood by and watched. The boys played lots of games and got a ton of candy as well as some fun toys, and all in all, was a great night! At the very end, we met another Russell from Up! and we obviously had to get a picture... I love that Nolan's flirt smirk is game on in this picture! Haha! Our day was packed full with these two events, and we still had Halloween night to go!
Stay tuned for more Halloween pictures from Halloween night and our costume photoshoot!
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