Halloween

I inherited a love of Halloween from my dad.  He used to love carving pumpkins, decorating the house and yard, helping figure out incredible costumes, pretty much everything about the holiday.  Our lifestyle over the past few years has not been very conducive to proper Halloween celebration, so I promised that this year I would find a way to make things right.
This actually started months ago back in Sitka when we found the perfect costume for Madeline in a second hand store.  My mom was visiting at the time and agreed it would be great, so we bought it and stored it away.  We've been dragging that costume around for months now, first on our boat trip south this summer, and lately in the van as we cross the country.
When we were visiting my cousin Karen in Walla Walla, we took a trip to their local pumpkin patch, and Madeline had a blast playing in the pumpkins, sliding down a huge hay bale stack slide, and of course sampling the ice cream available in the gift shop.
We were not sure where we would be at the end of October, but it turned out that we got into Moab just in time.  Not only did Madeline get to wear her ladybug costume, but we went out and hit some houses trick or treating as well.  Nicole and I felt a little guilty, Madeline doesn't get candy yet  so we knew anything we got would be ours, but she had a blast seeing the other kids in costumes and basically just charming anyone that opened the door to her smiling face.