Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We have been busy all this past week with Halloween events. Matt's Halloween-centric week started off last Sunday when Jon took him trick or treating at a local shopping center.

Getting ready to go trick or treating

Goofing off at one of the stores along the route

In his firefighter costume with a bag full of candy (photo courtesy of the Village Shoppes of Canton)

On Tuesday we went to story time at a movie theater next to the football stadium, followed by trick or treating at the outdoor shopping center. Both of those events were crowded and chaotic, especially since it ended up being a nice day, so everyone who thought about going went. The best part was having the toddlers run around in front of the stadium and pose for photos.

Holding a friend's hand to cross the street

Trying out the arcade games

Eagerly awaiting the story time (and you can get an idea of how crowded it was)

Listening to the story, which happened to feature one of his favorite characters

Running around and having a snack in front of the stadium

Posing near Loki and Thor during trick or treating

Friday we had the Halloween party for my moms' club. Matt had a good time running around with his friends and got to do a little more trick or treating.

Sitting in my lap for story time (photo courtesy of one of my mom friends)

Matt's favorite activity may have been decorating his pumpkin, generously provided by a local grocery store. We took it home, where he continued rearranging the stickers and then adding more.

Today of course was the actual holiday.

We went to the library, where Matt got a sweet treat. Here he is sorting his pile.

We did some coloring.

And this evening Jon took Matt trick or treating door to door. Sadly our street is not good at all for that activity, so they went into town instead. Matt wore his knight costume over his Batman shirt, although he didn't get to wear his dinosaur slippers out, too.

If you were keeping count, Matt went trick or treating four times. He got enough candy and treats to fill up his Halloween bag twice. He has enough to last him until Valentine's Day or even Easter.

Now that the Halloween season is over, it's time to prepare for someone's birthday...

Matt's Visitors

Last week Matt had a number of visitors. My parents came for much of the week, their first visit in a very long while. We went on a few outings but also spent some time together at home, all of which Matt enjoyed.

  

Taking a walk by the cranberry bog

Savoring the "gin gin man" cookie his grandparents brought

 

Of course, Matt most appreciated having everyone read to him.

He even posed (more or less) for my mom.

Friday Matt's uncle Vic came for an overnight stay in exchange for Matt's second babysitting experience of the week. (My dad watched Matt earlier in the week while my mom and I ran an errand, and Vic watched Matt while Jon and I went out for a dinner by ourselves.)

Doing puzzles

Just hanging out with his uncle's hat on

Matt has a busy week of Halloween festivities lined up, and then it will be time for more visitors and birthday festivities. He is one busy little guy!

Choo choo!

This past Thursday Matt and I took advantage of the great weather to go on a little adventure. We went to an attraction called Edaville, which was a cranberry bog with a small railroad that has become a little kids' amusement park. Of course, Matt was most interested in the trains.

Before we tried out all of the trains, we first spent some time in Dinoland, a park with animatronic dinosaurs, surrounded by pumpkins and other Halloween decorations. Matt was a little unsure about that experience.

Triceratops

Pteranodon

Allosaurus

T Rex!

Brachiosaurus

We spent a little time exploring the Thomas Land, although at this point Matt has no loyalty to Thomas the Tank Engine or any brand or kind of train. As far as he's concerned, a train is a train, and they're all good.

Riding the Diesel Derby

Sodor's Cranberry Carousel

Then we went on "a big choo train," or the biggest train Matt has been on so far. The narrow-gage train went on a 2-mile loop around the park and some cranberry bogs, with some lovely fall foliage viewable, too.

Eagerly awaiting the call of "All aboard!" and the start of the trip

On the ride

The engine (recently converted into Thomas - the cars are still in a more original form)

We then went back to riding the little choo choo trains.

We went on this one twice.

Then we went over to check out the young toddler area.

Posing with a blue hippo

Driving the jeep

His first ball pit - it took seeing other kids having fun for him to warm up to the idea

Of all of the attractions, the train tracks and toy trains may have been his favorite.

But I did persuade him to take a ride on the carousel.

At that point we were in danger of staying past nap time, so Matt climbed on one last train before we hit the road and returned home.

Engineer Matt driving the train

In the boxcar

And last but not least, the caboose

Not surprisingly, Matt was asleep within 5 minutes of getting back to the car! He was also very disappointed on Friday when we did not ride a train of any kind.