Happy Halloween everyone! Getting ready for some fun tonight? Got your monster faces on?
I hope everyone survived Hurricane Sandy! For us, it wasn’t as bad as we thought:
Our thoughts do go out to the people in our northeast.
I have had a lot of family and friends ask about taking the girls Trick or Treating and ‘be sure to get it on film’.
So we are. The weather looks to be cool but dry and it should be lots of fun.
But the fact that many people have asked about reminds me of last year’s vid Trick or Treating. So here it is. Consider it a warm up for tonight.
While it starts out at my Halloween 5k race and then to visit with our favorite restaurant manager, it ends up on the doorsteps of a few people, as Dylan barters for goodies, and finally back home, where she counts her booty, arranges it neatly in a stroller so she can cart it in her room over night. She warns mommy not to touch because she is saving it for a very important date.
Happy Halloween everyone! We wish you lots and lots of Reese’s!
What is YOUR favorite treat you look for each Halloween?
Welcome to the special pre-Halloween Edition edition of Halloween in 3D. But first my two year old has a message for you:
Now, what could be more fun to a child at Halloween but a week full of fun pre-Halloween shenanigans before Halloween?
Actually, we’ve all been in a kinda crazy Halloween mood since one of the fabulous grandmothers sent down a Halloween package for the girls a few weeks back. Inside, among all the treats, was a fun lawn flag that simply read, “Boo Y’all.”
Now I have just been having too much fun with this. I started saying it to the kids and now they say it all the time. Its just fun to shout for some reason. Go ahead, say it with your best southern drawl. It’s very contagious!! Check out our clan and more zany “boo Y’all” fun at the Olive Garden…..
SPOILER ALERT: Our girls have their Halloween outfits picked out already. Smiling Skylar will be a Pumpkin. Dylan, showing more of her personality than imagination, opted to dress like a Princess in a flowing pink gown.
The pre-Halloween week began with our most fabulous nanny taking the girls out to a Pumpkin Patch at one of the nearby historical plantations. Instead of describing it I thought I would just let some pictures paint the images of their spooky adventure:
A fashion setter
“Boo Y’all!”
“It was Dylan’s fault…”
Then, this past Friday, we packed the kids in the car to head to their favorite cousin’s house for a night of “Boo in the Zoo”. No….her cousin’s house was not the zoo. It was the Greenville Zoo hosting Trick Or Treat as the sun went down.
The kids had a great time. They collected a little bit of candy (for Mom and Dad). Acting silly, all dressed up in their favorite outfit was just an extra. Skylar was a hit with the accompanying adults. Each Trick or Treat station had two lines to divide the trick or treaters in as they passed. Young Skylar, evidently thinking there was something different in each line, went through one side and then went to the top of the parallel line to get a double helping of goodies. She was so cute and innocently naïve that the hosts often would just smile and give her more.
A disappointed Dylan at the Zoo confided that she was sad that nobody could guess what she was dressed up as. “Everybody can guess what Skylar is but they don’t say anything about MY outfit” she said.
I told her it was hard as the dress could be either a Princess OR a fairy. And that made enough sense to appease her and she went on here silly way.
We spent Saturday at a birthday party, with lots of ice cream and cake. Lots! Then we piled in the car to head back home as there was one of those fun air pillows, like the one they had this summer waiting for them back home. If you have never seen that hilarious video here is another as the girls bounce and fall and laugh while working off some energy. Its kinda like the vaudeville and catapult of indoor jump castles. Too funny! ~stay tuned!
This is a reblog from my friend Lulupants from her fun blog, Inside the Mind of Lulupants. Quite ironically the post is titled “Marriage By the Honest Ones“. She posted a silly questionnaire on what kids views on marriage and kissing and other stuff you can get cooties from are. See for yourself:
I’m with Anita! She is very perceptive for a 9 year old! Check out this and other fun things at Lulu’s blog and tell her Hi from Andy in 3D.
Now being a Dad(dy), I couldn’t help but wonder what my own daughters’ thoughts were on marriage and boys and stuff. S0 I asked Dylan the same questions above. Should I be nervous yet?
Take a look…
1. How do you decide who to marry?
“Marry like Mulan”.
Me,”huh?”
“Have your mom fix you up to be selected by a prince or king”, she says with a smile 2. What is the right age to get married?
“100!”
I asked Why?
“Because its older and I like that number.”
3. How can a stranger tell if two people are married?
“They are alike. Like their hair is the same. And their clothes and stuff.”
What do most people do on a date?
“Dance!”
4. What would you do on a first date that was turning sour?
“I would say, ‘Oh come onnnn!” (saying it real sarcastically)
5. When is it OK to Kiss someone?
“When its wedding time!” ~Good answer kiddo!
“Your wedding day would be just fine Mulan.”
6. Is it better to be single or married?
“Married….cause Uncle John is married” ~I don’t know what kind of influence John poses with her but good job John!
7. How would you make sure a marriage works?
“Dance! Add music and dance and then add a prince to the wedding”.
It turns out there is no need to worry yet. Like Don Henley says, “All she wants to do is Dance”.
Well I guess you know by now about long-awaited, too-short, overdue summer vacation we took this fall. I talked about the highlights in License to Chill. Tried to illustrate Dylan’s great time she had in the water, both in the sea and on land as well as tease you with the clear waters of the Caribbean ocean in …No Boundaries. We even found a bit of fun in the airports as they tried to make us stay for the weekend. But I would have you know….it wasn’t all fun and games.
You see Skylar actually caught a little stomach bug our last day there. Dylan picked it up the next day. Yes the girls got a little ill. Hey, it wouldn’t be ‘vacation’ without it!
Skylar picked up the bug on our last day. She wasn’t herself and then threw up that afternoon. It kinda put the damper on our ‘Last Meal in Jamaica’ dinner we had planned for that night. She wasn’t up for that so Mom (capital ‘M”) stayed with her while Dylan and I went down to eat. Being our last night, Dylan took it seriously and got all dressed up, wearing a dress-up outfit that a popular Grandmother (capital ‘G’) gave her last Christmas. She was my impromptu date in paradise. We had a great time!
We had a wonderful candlelit dinner, located right on the railing beside the sea. ~I hope that doesn’t sound too weird. It was a great location and Dylan was feeling very special.
Many of you remark on the cute or amazing things that leave this child’s mouth in the ‘DYLANisms’. I may be the most amazed sometimes. Are lots of kids like this? But one thing you don’t get reading DYLANisms is the innocent or enthusiastic way she says these things, making them that much more adorable. Take a look as she talked about the vacation, wishing upon the stars with her sister and finally being treated like Royalty by the staff when dinner arrives. She felt super special all dressed up like the Princess she thought she was that evening:
The evening ended as she spotted a three year old boy, Sebastian, that just happened to celebrate his third birthday that day. Earlier that day Dylan saw the birthday party his Canadian parents threw for him on the beach that afternoon. Dylan was riding Big Blue, surprise, at the time.
Dylan knew him as one of her other international friends that played in the swimming pools all week. Since she wasn’t at the party this girl still wanted to wish Sebastian a Happy Birthday. So as we finished up she took me by the hand and asked if we could go over to his table and say “Happy Birthday”. It wasn’t my idea. It came from her heart as she was quite determined to do this by asking several times. Lots of you have noticed in the DYLANisms how smart she is on how she knows what is really important at her young age. Here was just another example.
The Heart of a Disney Princess
We feel lucky to be blessed with two great daughters with great dispositions, smarts, and great senses of humor. I keep waiting for the clock to strike midnight and see this fairy tale turn back into a pumpkin.
BONUS POST:
TIP: Want to clear customs, immigration, and airport check-ins in a hurry in your travels? Take along a sick kid!
Like I mentioned, Dylan picked up the stomach bug on the day we were leaving to go back home. In fact, she let everyone know in the middle of the Jamaican airport! Yes she put breakfast on the floor almost as soon as we entered the bustling Jamaican airport. Mommy watched Skylar and our bags while I went to clean her up. Before I left the restroom I had someone from the airport checking on her, asking if she needed anything else.
We found mommy and the bags and the airport was already on the mess we made. We went over to have our bags checked at check-in and another airport personnel was checking to see if Dylan needed to see a nurse or medicines. We assured the staff we brought and she took some since the incident.
We made it to the scanners when I saw the opportunity. Being a salesperson in previous lives I immediately ceased the opportunity. I picked her up, told her to put on her sad face then walked up to the inspectors, letting them know I was holding a sick child. Maybe they had heard of the incident?
Well we ere rushed through the scanners and hurried on to the next obstacle to boarding the plane, Customs. Again, picked her up, sad face, cough a little, flash a Passport, sign here and we were off.
Next was airport security to board the terminals. Skylar was chiming into the act by now and we barely broke our stride gliding past the ticket checkers. Success!
We had enough time to catch some lunch in Finland, browse some souvies, restroom checks and we were off.
“What??? What do you mean the flight is being delayed? My kid is sick here!”
OUR LIFE IN 3D 