Trunk or Treat and Hayride

Our family decided over a month ago to have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme for Halloween this year. I've looked at Target, WalMart, thrift stores, etc for reasonably priced costumes throughout the past month. There was an abundance of costumes that would fit Jackson, but I couldn't find any for the trio. Sunday was our unofficial deadline since we had planned to go to a trunk or treat event that evening. After the kids went to bed on Saturday night, I went out, desperate to return with anything that might resemble ninja turtles. Lo and behold, amid a rack of 5T superhero pajamas, there just so happened to be three 18-month pajamas and a 3T pajama set. It was meant to be!

Jesse and I went back and forth on what costumes we could create. I wanted to find a burgundy robe so one of us could be Master Splinter. We didn't think we could find/make anything to resemble Shredder. Jesse suggested I find something yellow to dress as April. On a time crunch, we divided and conquered, going to different Goodwill stores. Using our existing wardrobes and $10 worth of Goodwill finds, we became Casey Jones and April O'Neil. I bought a 97 cent hat in each of the turtle's colors. While I was at youth group, Jesse dressed the babies and even made me a "Channel 6" badge to complete the look. Here's our adorable TMNT family!

Even though I spent more than I wanted (just over $50 for the six of us), each of the kids will have a pair of warm pajamas and hat to last all winter. And I genuinely don't think we've bought the trio a single outfit in the past 15 months. So if I look at it that way, $50 is totally reasonable.

The pajamas came with a cape. I washed and dried a set on hot water and high heat because I was hoping Maddie's would shrink a bit since she's still a bit small for a lot of 18 month clothes. Unfortunately, the black shell on Maddie's cape completely peeled off. Lesson learned: turtle shells cannot withstand high temperatures!

The trunk or treat event was very small. It was just for our mom friends. Our kids are pretty cute.

As far as the trunk part of "trunk or treat" goes, I was not about to decorate the back of the van. The other moms had cobwebs and pumpkins. I just dumped our candy in one of the babies wagons and called it a day.

The kids had a busy afternoon playing on the playground, chasing one another, and eating the potluck dinner. Amelia and Maddie walked around the picnic shelter while James showered himself in mulch. I should have thought to take a picture of the four of them before they played, but they are still cute.

Since we were all dressed up, I asked Jesse if he knew of any other fall festivals in the area. I briefly contemplated the Renaissance Festival, but at a ticket price of over $20 and it already being 5:30 pm, we quickly ruled that out. Jesse recalled a fall festival at a diary farm near his work. When we arrived at the seemingly desolate farm, we considered going home before we even got out. I reluctantly got out of the van and asked the one person I saw if there was anything to do. She told us we could drive behind her house and see the animals.

I was really surprised at how close we could get to the livestock.

After seeing the animals, we wondered around trying to figure out what was going on. Just as we were going to leave, a tractor pulled up for a hayride. About fifteen people came out of nowhere and started loading onto the trailer of hay. Jackson was excited and all the kids were out. Jesse walked up to inquire about a ticket. The woman said, "We'll do $20 for all of y'all." I don't know if that was supposed to be a discounted rate, but Jesse and I kept looking at one another in disbelief trying to determine if we were really going to spend twenty dollars on yet another hayride.

The hayride ended up being a 30 minute tour of the farm. It was nice to curl up in a blanket and watch the sunset over pastures. We were riding along side cattle and goats. Apparently one of the goats had just given birth to a litter of kids that morning. Everyone was allowed to pet a baby goat. 

I'm still not convinced it was worth $20, but the girls could not have been happier on the hayride. James, who is infamous for being fussy past bedtime, was quite content. And Jackson got to sit between his Mommy and Daddy and take in all the sights.

To not have had any concrete plans or costumes the day before, we ended up having a terrific evening as an adorably coordinated family! Now we wait to do it all again this weekend, beach edition.