Why I Oughta...

This past weekend marked the turning of the Menards seasonal store inventory over from Summer/back-to-school to Halloween stuff.  And it is the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year!  I've chronicled this transition to Halloween in years past including 2016 here .   2015 here .  And 2012 is here . Now that we've moved to Downers Grove, we don't have a Menards super close any longer - but we have two (Bolingbrook and Glendale Heights) that are the same 15 or 20 minute drive away.  The photo I took above is from Bolingbrook - which is an older-style store.  But their Halloween section is pretty robust and goes well beyond this Halloween Village set-up from Lemax.  Blowmolds and inflatables?  They have a bunch of them including a blinking-eye owl that I have my eye on.   Our new neighbors are going to love the Inflatable City, aren't they?  In Elmhurst, Nat was totally fine with inflatables in the backyard, but drew the line at the front of the house.  Gues

Posting this here for diary-keeping purposes.  That's Vic's/Equation Boy/Man's house all doll'd up with inflatables and pumpkins and what-have-yous on Halloween 2016. Look who is missing from last year . I love me some inflatables despite Nat not being all over them (I think she prefers them in the backyard!) and brought them out front for the big day last week. Here's a look at our home on Halloween back in 2013 .

Earlier this week, I posted about this year's Halloween Trick-or-Treater tally (302 for the record) , but I also wanted to share one little change we made to our candy mix.  Normally, we have both 'full size' candy bars (for the kids we know) and the normal 'snack size' candy bars for everyone else.  (For the record, we get both a big bag of chocolate-based bars and a big bag of chewy/fruit-flavored treats.) We also have the blue pumpkin out front for kids who can't eat nuts and candy and what not, so Nat gets a set of plastic toys and spider rings and vampire teeth and what-have-yous, although I don't think we had anyone request that stuff this year. But this year, I also bought a book of 20 of those free small slurpee tickets that you see up top of this post.  They went fast!  I gave them to 'kids we know', so 20 of those kids got a little extra treat from us.   And at just $5 for 20 tickets , it was a fun little addition to the mix.  I

Last night, we had 88 'kids we know', 210 'kids we don't know' and just 4 adults with no kids.  That's a grand total of 302 trick-or-treaters. Comparing to last year's number of 346 total , we were down 12% overall.  And it felt that way in terms of kids coming to the door.  The weather was perfect, but there weren't as many cars parked up and down the block. In the specific categories, we had 73 'known kids' last year and 88 this year.  Could be because we recognized more kids or that more kids moved to the neighborhood.  However, last year we had 264 'unknown kids' compared to 210 this year.  That's a 20% drop. The reason?  Last year was on a Saturday.  And in looking at the historical numbers, I'm not calling this year a 'drop', but rather a reversion back towards the norm.  Therefore, 2015 was more a 'Saturday Surge' than anything. Historical totals: 2016: 302 total. In 2015, we had 346 total .

That's the "Alien pig Queen" on the top courtesy of the Bird. A scribbled-on two-eye and a heart (drawn by his sister) guy faithfully sawn based on some of the drawings of the King of the Ball Tossers. And....a masked guy as created by the oldest one - The Babe. Unlike in past years, these have stayed inside our front porch, not on the outside porch.   Here's a post from back in 2014 showing the ways I have kept them free of squirrel bites .

A few nights ago, we packed the kids into the van and headed west.  To Carol Stream to be precise. The reason?  To go make our annual visit to the Canyon Trail Cemetery.   Here's my post from 2014 when I think we went for the first time (and I made Richard Christie reference?!?) and here's my post from last fall . You can get all the details - including the address - about the Canyon Trail Cemetery from their Facebook page here .   The place is pretty awesome.  Tons of pneumatic animatronics and lots of sounds and lights and movement.  Things jump out at you and make all sorts of racket.  The Babe did some screaming.  The King of the Ball Tossers kept his distance.  You can see him in this photo below.  Well past the fence and even standing in the parkway.  He wasn't too sure of the 'scary skellies' as he calls them. Here's the big Pumpkin King that they have 'around the corner'.  Always a big hit with us every year.  He rises out of the g

This is the fourth and I think final post on Lemax Spooky Town for the year and it features the Spooky Hollow Pumpkin Patch structure.  This one was released last year, but is being carried this year at Menards along with the others that I covered including: the  Scariest Halloween House ,  the Black Cauldron Boutique and Wanda's Wicked Cupcake Shop . This one has some exterior and interior lights but is the smallest of the bunch.  Again...the Mayor of Mantleburg has ruled and while he does, indeed, celebrate Halloween, he's not having any city expansion nor annexing any new structures into Mantleburg this year.  Who knows...maybe there will be an uprising on the town council to overrule the Mayor of Mantleburg next year?  Once we have a place for all the structures of Mantleburg to be displayed properly?  Time will tell.

Second in the series of Lemax Spookytown structures as featured at our Menards this Halloween season is this Black Cauldron Bootique.  I posted some photos of another building last week that was called the 'Scariest Halloween House' here on the blog .   This one retails for $10 more but it seems that you get a bit more including a taller structure, more lights and a few different witches in various spots around the place. Still not able to convince myself that Mantleburg needs a fall season.  Might have something to do with our housing situation.  Next year, I might be in a different mood come late summer for Spookytown.

If you looked closely at the photo I posted last week of the girls at Menards in front of the Halloween section , you may have noticed the Lemax Halloween house display.  Oh, that's right.  You're normal, so you wouldn't notice such things.  But me?  The keeper of Mantleburg?  And lover of Christmas Villages ?  I see these things.  And that's why, on our subsequent trips to Menards, I looked closely at all the various Lemax Spooky Town buildings. This first one, up top in the box, and down below unboxed, is the "Scariest Halloween House".  You can find the official description and details here on the Lemax site . Alas, we're not in the business of having a 'spooky town' for Mantleburg.  It has been a few years since Mantleburg even made it out of it's boxes and I know the Mayor isn't happy about that. Maybe when we have the new house - and the library (hint, hint, Nat???), there might be a way to bring out Mantleburg and who knows?

 Just like in year's past, I took the girls to check out the recently put-up Halloween section at Menards.   Here's the post showing the Babe in the 2015 Halloween section and here's a post from 2012 showing both girls .  They've both grown up a lot, eh? Here's The Bird doing her best 'scary' face and I'm not sure what the Babe is doing on the right.  With Back-to-School out of the way, we are now entering my favorite time of year at Menards: seasonal.  They quickly moved out the backpacks and highlighters in favor of ghosts and witches and it won't be long now for Christmas stuff to creep in.   Last year, we spotted snowmen and Santas as early as October 6th , so brace yourself, folks.  Christmas Creep is coming.

For the second year in a row, we packed up the kids and took them out to see what is called the "Canyon Trail Cemetery" in a neighborhood in Carol Stream a few days before Halloween. Here's the post from our visit last year . With The Babe and The Bird getting a bit older and more *aware* of things, they started to get a little freaked out by some of the things that jump out!   We picked up a couple of 'kids temp' hot chocolates and watched Hocus Pocus in the van on our way there.  It was a great way to lead up to the big day on Halloween. If you don't know about the Canyon Trail Cemetery, you can check them out here on their Facebook page .  It is a really impressive display put together by a family.  All they ask is for canned food donations for the local food pantry!

As you can see from the photo above, we ended up with 346 individuals to our door on Halloween.  That includes 9 adults, 73 'kids we know' and 264 'kids we don't know'. That's up from last year's tally of 308  and sets the new record for Halloween. This year: 346 total. In 2014, we had 308 total . In 2013, we had 326 total . In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total . A few things to note: 1.  It rained a bit his year.  Wasn't as bad as last year when it rained the entire time we were out trick-or-treating.  But that still likely made it a bit harder to turn-out for trick-or-treating for some.   2.  However...this was a Saturday.  That's the first time trick-or-treating wasn't on a 'school night', so I'm thinking that accounted for the increased turnout. 3.  We were down the block from where we normally have been.  The '09-'14 totals we

One of the inborn instincts that my kids seem to have (and I had) is the need to count and sort the candy one receives over the various Halloween activities into piles based on type and color.  Here, The Babe shows her handiwork.  All the Twizzlers in one pile.  All the lollipops in another, etc.

With just a little over a week until Halloween, it appears that some happy haunts have take over our place recently . Those photos - of The Babe and The Bird - were created as "Spirit Photographs" at Memento Mori outside of the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom .  They're lenticular images that they create on the spot.  We had the girls sit down for the photos early one morning (I think it was right at like 10 am when that part of the park opens) and within 10 minutes, the "Sprit Photos" appear at the register. They're now sitting on the ledge as you head down the stairs - right next to the photos of my nieces/nephew.

As drawn by The Babe. This was left for me on my desk at home one night last week.  She taped the little note on top of the drawing on the top left. That's me as a football player, she tells me.  She - on her own - picked out the #50 for my jersey. Not sure where she got that, but it must be in a book around the house.  Pretty great, right?   And that's a football sticker in my right hand next to (I think?) a cat sticker.  I'm (obviously) wearing a football helmet on my face.  And the pumpkins all over the place tell me it is Halloween.

When we were down in Orlando in September, we picked up these two pins at the #NotSoScary Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom.  The Haunted Mansion one on the left has a yellow card and is marked "Limited Edition".  The Mickey/Minnie one on the right is on a purple card and is marked "Limited Release". Have no idea what the difference is, but based on where they were located (The purple one was behind the registers and you had to ask for it and show your bracelet vs the yellow one was in the pin shop in Frontierland on a normal rack.), I'm thinking the "Limited Release" one is more rare (whatever that means!?!). I still haven't quite gone through all the pins that the girls traded for when we were down there and because we're staying in my sister's/Equation Boy/Man's house, we don't have a good place to display them.  Thus, they're just sitting in a Parks bag on my desk awaiting for the time to go through them.

Check out these super cute Star Wars Halloween Disney Pins that are available in the Parks right up until Halloween (or until they sell out).  These were picked up in the Figment gift shop after the Figment ride in Epcot, but they can be found elsewhere in all the parks. The top one is an Ewok holding a Trick or Treat sign, wearing a Storm Trooper helmet and carrying a candy bag that is shaped like half of a Death Star. Down below you'll see two others.  There's a fourth, but it isn't shown here on this post. First up in Chewbacca holding a rubber-textured Jack-lantern.  He looks a bit cranky! Next up is Darth Vader reaching for some Halloween candy corn. The fourth pin in the set (you can see it here on this eBay listing ) features Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, & Chewbacca silhouettes Trick or Treat. These, while bought by me, are going right in the Babe's collection.  While we're in a bit of limbo with our housing situation, therefore the

One of the better party-specific souvenirs that are available at the Disney World Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is this Christmas ornament.  Like a lot of folks, Nat and I use Christmas ornaments as a way to document our travel and Disney delivers for folks like us. The pumpkin has two Mickey ears sprouting out the top and includes the year on one side.  Perfect way to commemorate a trip to the Park during the #NotSoScary party, right?

Look who has turned up at our new place?!? Welp...it is kind of *our* place.  You'll notice that the house looks a bit different.  We've still living on the same block thanks to my sister and Equation Boy/Man moving overseas for work. They were nice enough to allow us to 'squat' at their place while we figure our housing situation out.  That situation is a long, sad, and open-ended story, so that might be for another post. But...as you can see, we're making ourselves at home in the form of some Halloween decorations. Being the first day of October, I thought it was appropriate to show the new home of two of these guys.  I put them up but didn't have time to put up the two little girl scarecrows.  I'll get them up this weekend and then we can try to figure out building a new one for the boy. This is the sixth year of putting these guys out and with a little bit of spiff'ing up, they're still looking good. Last year, I didn't post abo

The Babe *soooo* wanted the Halloween scary train from Menards.  She was like, "Daddy!  Take my picture by the train!" Alas...this is NOT the year for it as we're in transition between homes and stuff.  Hate to disappoint her, but....maybe next year?