Halloween Hangover

You know, it occurs to me that the reason God invented Halloween candy isn't for the kids -- it's so that the grown-ups orchestrating Halloween can get and maintain a sugar high to get them through the Halloween festivities.

It's been a long few days, folks. But fun. Very fun.

As I mentioned, Saturday was spent sewing the horse's costume for the EPS pony show. Sunday was the big horse show. The whole horse show experience isn't strange to me-- my sister rode in shows when we were in high school, so many of my high school weekends were spent hanging around barns, watching events, handing out ribbons, etc. And Caroline's been riding for about 3 years now, so by now the pony show isn't new either. And I KNOW that each class drags on interminably and the whole thing moves slowly. Like a tired pony trudging away from its stall.

Still, we leave the house early enough to be sure we're not late...only to arrive and discover that Caroline's first class won't be for about 2 hours. This leaves plenty of time to wander around, pet all the ponies, get all of our shoes really muddy, and accumulate enough liquid in our bladders that we all need to use the rather rustic (ahem) facilities there. And I'd really rather not use them.

But I digress. It was a lovely October day, sunny and over 70, with a touch of crispness in the air. The scent of hay and pony and manure (which from a distance is actually sort of pleasant) was in the air...and of course, there were scads of little girls skittering around, wearing their tan breeches and black boots and looking so sophisticated with their hair in neat buns...until, out of boredom, they start the wild cartwheeling that inevitably occurs when you get a bunch of 9 year olds together.

But I digress again. The costume event was very fun, with wildly inventive costumes for ponies and riders. Caroline and her pony, Bartles, turned out well:



They took 7th place, which thrilled Caroline as many kids didn't get a ribbon at all and she didn't have one of that purple color yet for her collection. Here's another view of them:



Caroline's good friend Lani, riding Rose, was a Pony Express aviator. Rose wasn't too thrilled about being the airplane and she kept rolling her eyes suspiciously at the cardboard wings, but they made it through the class and Lani took 8th place.



The overall winner was a boy (the only boy there all day, I think) who had an elaborate pirate costume and had turned the saddle into a huge treasure chest with overflowing treasure. I didn't get a good picture, so you'll just have to imagine that yourself.

Yesterday was the Halloween parade at school... I just love watching the kindergarteners trail around in their costumes! And then Caroline's class had its party. The 4th graders planned it themselves, and came up with inventive things. Caroline's contribution was to bring our steam vaporizer, for a mist effect in the classroom. Spooky!

Then, of course, came the trick-or-treating. Caroline's friend Dabria, AKA Wednesday Adams (of the Adams Family) went together, chattering excitedly the whole way. Dabria is a cute little girl, the spitting image of the TV Adams Family Wednesday (with slightly lighter hair. She has a high, happy voice and just chatters, chatters, chatters. "I'm having a BLAST!" she said to me, then she immediately turned to Caroline with a sigh. "I wish we could go with my brother. He knows the houses that give MONEY."

Oh well. No cash handouts in our neighborhood, but they did come home with a significant amount of candy, plus one toothrbrush each from the dentist up the street, AND a little pamphlet with Spiderman on the front about how God is a superhero and you can read about his adventures in the Bible. Seriously.

So, today we rest. And try to avoid the left-over hershey bars.