Month: October 2013
Hoover Elementary Halloween Parade 2013
Not the best conditions for a parade as it rained all day on Halloween. The parade was originally planned to go around the block but because of the poor conditions they only had the kids march around the school. Lots of great costumes despite the weather conditions. Speaking of weather, James decided on his costume a couple days before the event, he wanted to go not as a monster or politician or celebrity, but as a weather man. We made up a thunderstorm weatherman outfit for him with raindrops falling from the umbrella (as if we needed them today) and a thunderstorm cloud as well. Due to the weather it worked out well as he was dressed head to toe in wet weather gear, simulating a weatherman broadcasting from a hurricane area.
Trick or Treat 2013
Without a doubt this was the most brutal trick or treat that I remember. The same rain the shortened the parade continued throughout the day and into trick or treat. Fortunately James was geared for the weather in his weatherman costume (he was a skeleton underneath actually so he was covered for both types of weather.
The day began with turning on the lights in the wee hours of the morning for James bus. The look of the house changes from morning to evening on Halloween night as decorations are added and some taken away. After James had his parade he came home with his parents and we began work on some pumpkins. Once the pumpkins were finished James was ready for trick or treat and was the first one on the block to do so (due to the rainy weather he was the only kid on the block for most of the night).
James made a pretty good haul considering the weather. The turnout was better as the evening progressed but would still be considered light.
Best Decorated Halloween Homes 2013
There are many houses near ours who do outstanding Halloween decorations so this year we went out a couple times throught the hood and snapped some pictures. Good thing we did this before Halloween because the weather really went bad Oct 31st.
The first trek into the neighborhood we took Aunt Peg with us so she got a chance to see some of the homes in the area. The next trek we took Mom (Aunt Peg ended up in the hospital for a couple days) so you may see a duplicate home (although we did check for duplicates, but not really hard).
Without further ado, the best decorated homes for Halloween this year in our neighborhood.
Manuels Taco Hut Halloween Display 2013
For the second straight year we visited Manuels Taco Hut a day or two before Halloween so I think that makes it officially a new Halloween tradition. We noticed a new talking skeleton that sang Thriller this year, it might have been there last year but if it was we missed it. The place was decorated from top to bottom and the line to get in wrapped outside halfway thru the parking lot. Several real cool animations and projections. The food was very good this year, Mom and Dad had the chicken burrito and James had his standby, chicken tenders and fries – the chicken tenders were shaped like dinosaurs which James enjoyed. Not a crumb was left on his plate when we left.
Manuels does a great job and one of the things they do is wall paper the restaurant in black so that no light is reflected (sort of like a black hole where no light escapes). This gives the restaurant a true Halloween haunted house effect without having any decorations so when you add the quality animations they have you really have a great effect.
For more about Manuels Taco Hut visit their webpage.
James Halloween Party 2013
James had his third annual Halloween Party and had a blast as several of his friends from Hoover and Tulane made it this year. We have the event from 2-6 pm so we never really got too crowded with folks coming in throughout the day. All together we had 20 guests and everyone got to chow on pizza and finger sandwiches along with cake and other things you aren’t supposed to eat (we did have a basket of fruit out as well). Kids played with Wii, pinball, novelties, and crafts.
We decorated the entire home including the new “zombie” room where the kids can go and play video games.
James is very proud of this event and did pretty well as host. He has already got the date for next years party which is the 18th of October. Thanks to all who came and all who helped out.
