Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of those holidays that has been a tough transition down here in Florida.  Each year we do something different, but we've yet to come up with something to replace the unique experience of sharing the day with family and trick or treating in Pitman.

Every year, fewer and fewer people participate in traditional trick or treating, and we just couldn't find a spot where it felt like 'home'.

This year all that changed.  First, on the Saturday before Halloween, we drove down to Bok Gardens in Lake Wales.  They were offering a night-time special tour of the gardens and trick or treating.  Everyone enjoyed wandering the spooky paths and getting some candy. 

Then on Halloween itself, we went down to Winter Garden, which is a small town about fifteen minutes from our house. The town was having a Halloween Festival, which in and of itself was lots of fun.  But we also found that the houses in the town were closer to our historical idea of trick or treating than anywhere else we'd experienced. The kids were in hog heaven, walking from house to house and meeting people on their porches or in their yards. . they hauled in more candy this year than in any other Florida Halloween!

So we've finally found our Florida Halloween tradition.  It felt good.  Here are few pictures from the night. . .just to be clear, Greg was Brock (from Pokemon), Haley was hip vampire, Catie was Nurse Joy (from Pokemon), Sarah was Pikachu and David was Ash (from Pokemon).  Devyn and I were just along for the ride (although Dev technically was a woodland nymph!). Po Po was a bat--he LOVES Halloween!!