Why I Oughta...

As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the haunted bandshell from Lemax's Spookytown , Menards has a bunch of new (to me, at least) items in the Halloween Village.  Again....to be clear:  there's been a revolution and the Mayor of Mantleburg has been thrown out and the locals have opted to be annexed by other Villages.  Mostly by the Village of Craigslist. This isn't quite a building and isn't quite a figure - in the Lemax world.  It is technically classified as a 'Tabletop Piece" in the Lemax site architecture.   And, I think that's justified.  Menards had this Gateway Countdown featured *inside* of their SpookyTown setup - you can see it below: So, it can make sense inside of a Halloween Village setup. But, I think it could also make sense on it's own. The little bin holds the extra numbers on the right and you have to go in and switch them out everyday.  Or the kids have to go in and switch them out everyday.   Which, in our house mea

We might not live in Elmhurst any longer, but that doesn't mean we can't keep *some* of our Halloween traditions alive, right?  We didn't find time to get to Sonny Acres this year, but we DID get to Canyon Trail Cemetery in Carol Stream .  I posted about our visit to this house in 2016 , in 2015 , and in 2014 here on the blog.  If you have time, head there before the place disappears for the season tonight!

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