Fall break and Halloween

 Lately, I’ve been doing a little bit of family history. And the more I find out, the more I love this place. One particularly beautiful day, I drove by this spot where there’s a panoramic view of the entire village. I stopped the car to imagine my ancestors working in these fields, chopping wood in these forrests, and raising their families here. I’m sure many of them walked near this particular spot on many occasions, and it is interesting imagining what was similar and what was different 100, 200, 300 or 400 hundred years ago (one family line goes that far!).

If I could, I’d build a house right on top of that trashcan, haha!

I don’t want to forget how lucky we are to live with my parents in this beautiful place.

Mid-October was fall break for the boys. Soon their cousins arrived and the fun began.

October 20th : The weather had been so warm, the boys and their cousin still managed to swim in the pool. Not long though...

Two days later it finally snowed on the mountain and it was freezing cold here.

William and his cousins took advantage of the cold weather to spend some extra time on the DS.

 

 But the cold wave really didn’t last long and soon they were outside playing like monkeys again.

My aunt and I teamed up again to give the kids a halloween party. Several of my nephews and nieces and of my cousins’ children were there. We decorated cookies in the morning, and we had a really fun treasure hunt in the afternoon. I found all the instructions for the treasure hunt online and it was perfect.

Each child was given an envelop with a piece of magic candy in it. Each color of candy gave special powers (ability to read cryptic messages, jump really high, make potions, or see in the dark). And then each child’s special ability was needed to discover the clues that led to the treasure.

They all had to cross the giant spiderweb to get their bottle of vampire blood. Some of them deciphered cryptic messages, others made potions and drank them

And then they had to find a magic wand and learn an incantation before the treasure (candy) appeared. I didn’t take many pictures because I was busy leading the treasure hunt but it was a great success. (I found the idea and the printouts here http://organiser-anniversaire.fr/grands-jeux/la-chasse-au-tresor-dhalloween-de-mathea-7930). It lasted about an hour and it was great for kids of different ages.


Then I took lots and lots of pictures of the kids playing in their costumes.

(William’s planned costume was this cute dragon but when he saw his brother and cousins in Ninja costumes he wanted to be a ninja too, so he wore last year’s costume for a little bit, and then he decided he wanted to be a dragon after all.)

He made for a really cute dragon and Josh was totally in character.

On Halloween night we went to church for a big party.

 Josh had invited a friend from school. The boys made mummies. Played a bowling/knock the can game. And shot some zombies with the missionnaries.

Then they ate and danced for a little while... or went crazy more like it.