The Best Halloween EVER!

Uncle Mike, Aunt Linda, Cousin Wendy, Cousin Michael, and his girlfriend Elise all arrived on Friday. It was such a joyous occasion to have all of us together. Michael and Elise live in California, Mike, Linda, & Wendy live in Atlanta. We all get together once a year on the 4th of July for a few days of scrumptious barbecue, cheese dip, and brownies with lots and lots of laughter. Getting together for Halloween was a family bonus.

It all started last year when Kurt covered himself in moss and blended into our pear trees on the walkway to our house. When kids would walk by him to come trick-or-treat at our house, the tree would come alive, complete with some wild animal call. The neighborhood went crazy and we had people coming back over and over just to be scared again. We laughed and laughed watching people jump and scream.

So this year more people wanted to participate. Kurt, our resident Halloween expert, sort of managed the whole thing. We gave everyone free rein to do what they wanted and we put it all together. For the first time in my life, I didn't stress about it, and it all just fell into place wonderfully.

So let me give you the tour. When folks first arrived at our house, they were greeted by Michael, the dancing swine flu. He was playing Boogie Nights and Superfreak all night. We all thought he was hysterical, especially in that getup, but some teens were so frightened they didn't come get candy!

Next they trick-or-treaters were guided down the driveway onto our walkway to the front porch.

There are 4 pear trees lining our walkway, all covered with moss. Kurt is blended into one. As they walk past him, he comes alive.

Can you see him? There were many from last year looking for him, but he still got them.

Then they proceeded to the porch, where I rewarded them with candy.

Junior Moss Monster, when he wasn't trick-or-treating with me or Ryan, hung out with me for a while.

After the first screams and some candy, the "customers" (as we dubbed them) had to walk past a few spooky things to get to more candy.

They weren't sure if this "thing" was real or not. There was another bowl of candy around the corner of the porch. Along the way Elise (Zachary joined her after quickly tiring of having to stand in a bush) would be hiding in some shadow to jump out and frighten them.

She was quite the scary zombie. Despite her scary costume, she and Zachary share a special connection. They huddled together most of the night to jump out and scare people. Zachary said he wants to be a zombie next year.

After the zombie experience, and more candy, they were escorted to the next bowl of candy by our tacky tourist, Uncle Mike.

The next bowl of candy was by the trampoline. There was a flashing strobe light on it, and as they reached for the candy, this scary gorilla (at times played by my husband) jumped up and down rattling the trampoline/cage.

After the trampoline, our tacky tourist escorted them to the fountain by the pool where they were greeted by a lovely mermaid, Aunt Linda.

She gave them more candy, which they reluctantly accepted. Then they headed toward the exit, but they were stopped by Wendy, the spider girl. She offered them candy in a spider covered bowl filled with slimy spaghetti. It was hilarious.

Our friends Hank and Jennifer helped also, Jennifer was a Killer Bee. Here is a picture of our whole gang.

The only one who wasn't into the Halloween festivities was Evan. He was having no part of his adorable duck costume. Fortunately it was a hand-me-down from his big brother. So Evan managed to sleep through the mayhem. However, all was fine the morning after.

It was such a fun Halloween. The entire neighborhood is still talking about it. The best part was having so many family members around interacting with my children. It was definitely the best Halloween ever.