Halloween

We had a fun Halloween.  Chase and I had obviously gone to the Saratoga Springs event, but we also had a ward party, a friend party, and Trick or Treating.

Ward Party

Check it out - no chili in our crockpot! We won the chili cook off!  Seriously!

At our friends' neighborhood party

...desperately trying to get a picture of the boys in costume

Charlie Brown and Linus

Marcus pretended he was the teacher from Charlie Brown.  I was a spider, although technically I was the song Tarantella from our Suzuki Association of Utah fall cello activity.

Trick or Treating

I think Chase enjoyed passing out candy more than going door-to-door himself.  He was pretty entertaining.

Marcus rigged my tablet and some paper to show It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown through our front window.  It felt pretty festive :)

Happy Halloween!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Saratoga!

Saratoga Springs is obviously a newer, smaller city.  We live in Saratoga Springs, but we're much closer to Lehi than the center of Saratoga Springs.  (Thank you weird politics and boundaries.)  But I've been really impressed with all the city has been doing to build up and celebrate.  For Halloween, they had a big city event, which was definitely better attended than they even expected.  Chase and I went to Shay Park for their event: It's the Great Pumpkin, Saratoga!  There were a few fun activities, food trucks, and of course the playground.  He had a great time, although we didn't get food because the lines were way too long.

Riding the train

Trick-or-Treating through their little maze

Playground Time

Choosing a Pumpkin

I'm sure we'll go next year.  Hopefully they reserve a couple more food trucks though :)  Happy Halloween!

Ward Halloween Party

Marcus took the boys to the Ward Halloween Party for the Trunk or Treat.  (I teach in Manhattan on Saturdays, so I got there late.)

Chase did not want to get dressed.  No surprise there.

... I can't like it!  :)  haha

But he did it.  And I think he looked great!

Candy Time

The group shot attempt

Too bad there was a sugar distraction :)

Marcus and Curious George - though you can only see one monkey ear here :)

Page family concentration face while desperately trying to open candy

After the trunk or treat, there was a chili cook off and a few other games inside the gym.

And then we walked home along Skillman so Chase could trick or treat some of his favorite places, like the laundromat.

And Ty rode along.

Happy Halloween :)

Spooky Concert in Connecticut

One of the schools I teach at, The Suzuki Music School of Westport, has an annual Spooky Concert around Halloween.  We decided to go as a family since it's a shorter concert with a carnival.  It seemed like a great time to bring the boys up to Connecticut to meet some of the other teachers and a few of my students.

We rented a car and drove up to Connecticut.  No one got sick this time, so that was great :)  We did get a little turned around on all the residential streets, but that is a great area to get a little lost.  The homes are beautiful!  And all the leaves were just starting to change colors.  

The school the concert held at was a private elementary school for boys.  It was an incredible building.  Those families must pay college tuitions for those kindergarteners...  Actually they basically do.  We looked it up.

Man, Connecticut is amazing.  I really enjoy teaching there.  And concerts are a lot of fun.  This was was a spooky success.  My group classes combined and played Old MacDonald.  They had learned to play some animals noises on their cellos.  Not many came, but it was a cute piece.  Other classes played spooky variations of traditional Suzuki songs or songs with Halloween words in the titles.  Everyone seemed to have a nice time.  

Oh, and did I mention everyone was dressed up in costume?  They had all the faculty dress up as Suzuki songs, and there was a contest to guess who was which song.  I was Chanson Triste from Book 4.  I wore a shirt covered in music notes and Marcus drew tears on my face.  Chase was the Man in the Yellow Hat, but by the time cameras were out at the carnival, he just looked like a walking banana.  Ty was a monkey :)

After, there was a carnival.  There were probably eight to ten games, but Chase only did a couple.  And two of them he repeated over and over and over...

Pumpkin Toss

He didn't quite understand eating the doughnuts off the string.

I helped :)

Yum Yum Yum

Then Chase saw a game he really wanted to play!

That is my boss, the music school's director, Andrew.
The game was "Throw a wet sponge at Andrew."

Chase LOVED it.

He also loved the Witches' Hats Ring Toss

This was one he played a lot!

While our sweet monkey slept

And Marcus enjoyed some Hot Chocolate

And Chase then was back and forth between the hats and the sponge.  He helped pick up the sponges after kids threw them.  Chase was a super helper!

buddies

After the concert, we went to one of my students' homes in Westport for dinner.  His dad is a chef who owns a restaurant in Connecticut.  Of course Chase wouldn't eat the dinner, but I'm pretty sure Marcus and I will dream about the pumpkin ravioli and pork with apples...  Drooling again.  It was a really fun day!  I'm glad we all went.

Halloween Caramel Apples

The only Halloween celebrating we really did was the Ward Trick-or-Treat.  On Halloween night, we stayed in and made caramel apples.  I had been looking forward to them all year because I had it in my head that we were going to make them on Halloween night.  And they were delicious.  Not necessarily the prettiest treat, but they tasted great!

Marcus was in charge of the caramel

So much easier with a microwave :)

After I dipped and coated the apples,
Marcus had to watch them as they started cooling

They finished cooling in the fridge.
Yes, I used forks as sticks.

Then we drizzled two with chocolate and M&Ms.  

Kind of pretty, right? :)  Haha.

Yum!

I think this is going to be my new Halloween tradition.  So much fun.  And we actually made caramel apples on Halloween once before when we lived in Utah, probably five years ago.  Guess that's twice though -- totally a tradition now :)