I have been blog-neglectful in respect to my own blog and other folks' blogs. I sort of get lost in my life and don't have time for even a few minutes at the computer. Of course that's not because I'm actually writing or cleaning the house or reading or doing any of the things that would make me timely and organized and increasingly published. It's because I'm doing...stuff.
One of those things did was take the kids to Six Flags, or two of the three kids and a friend. And of course then there was Halloween which completely absorbs me. We went to Six Flags just before Halloween.
Now, we are not a theme park family, but every once in a while, I roll a wheelbarrow of cash into one of those places just so we feel connected to the rest of theme-park loving America.
None of my kids are hugely into roller coasters, but we walked around, went on a few rides and let teenagers jump out at us and scare the scream out of Emma. Philip kept reminding her to "look cool" because the people paid to scare you "prey on the weak." But Emma is too young not to look terrified, so she provided those folks a perfect target.
What scared me the most was the family of vampires. Not too many people who weren't hired by the park were in costume, but this family stood directly in front of us on line with their fanged teeth and capes. After a few minutes of watching them, it occurred to us, I think simultaneously, that they were really, really, really into being "the vampire family" - in other words, you sort of got that they wore these costumes at times other than Halloween. Way scarier a concept than roller coasters.
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By: Kinderscares,
on 11/1/2010
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How'd our favourite holiday come and go so fast?! We had an awesome Halloween this year, the kind that lasts from the moment you wake up until you fall into bed exhausted at the end of it. We covered the kids in spooky rub-on tattoos, gave scary books to friends, made tons of delicious food (and gorged on candy too), dressed up and trick-or-treated, hung out with various fun folks, and still made it home in time to watch The Walking Dead.
Here's our eldest, who decided after much indecision to be a vampire this year:
If you think THAT'S scary, you should have seen her when she wanted to be a zombie at age three. Terrifying stuff. From this year's costume we learned that even child-sized fangs are too big for little 6-year-olds...she lasted about five minutes before ditching them for being too uncomfortable.
Colum was our resident zombie this year:
That's the same expression on his face as when he has to get up early for work.
And here's our toddler, the bat to accompany his sister's vampire:
2 Comments on Halloween 2010 - pics, overview and general rambling..., last added: 11/2/2010
Few people love scary books as much as we do. With two websites dedicated to horror in literature and a personal library that's terrifying in size as well as subject matter, I guess that's a little obvious. We read them, collect them and write about them. Our big kid writes and illustrates them in her spare time.
The only thing we like MORE than the books themselves is sharing them with other people, which is why we've fallen instantly in love with All Hallow's Read, a newly thought-up tradition of giving people scary books for Halloween.
Author Neil Gaiman came up with this awesome plan recently when it occurred to him that there just aren't enough traditions that involve giving books. He posted about it here on his blog, and has since managed to put together an official All Hallow's Read website.
We hope all you book and/or horror lovers out there will join in to spread the word and give someone a spooky book this year! If you need suggestions, don't hesitate to ask! Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween weekend! It's my fave holiday and I'm excited! What's everyone dressing up as? Remember to check out my Halloween contest here!
Also, if you haven't been on the Canterwood Website recently there have been ALL NEW updates on the site! Have fun checking them out. :)
Have a happy, spooky and safe Halloween, everyone!
For your amusement this Friday evening, we pulled out a few of our OWN Halloween photos from the distant past. Here's pirate Colum at 2 years old (so we're talking the distant, DISTANT past, heh heh).
(In case you're wondering, he still looks pretty much exactly like that, but taller and with a beard.)
And here is me (Shelagh) at age 7 or 8. I was a witch, in case you couldn't figure that out on your own:
Rest assured that I now have all my teeth and even brush my hair once in a while (whether I feel like it or not).
Feeling inspired? Go pull out the old Halloween photos - of you or your kids - and submit your favourites to our photo contest for a chance to win awesome prizes! We'll be accepting entries until November 1st.
Happy Halloween weekend!
S.
Oops, I was supposed to announce the winner yesterday. Blog slacker! Real-life October craziness has really distracted us from online October madness, apparently. So much Halloween awesomeness...so little time...
In any case, the (day-late) winner of our Scary Stories giveaway is SimplyK8! Congratulations, and thanks to all entrants!
Remember we'll be accepting entries for the Halloween Kids photo contest until the end of November 1st! We've received some really fantastic and adorable entries already and can't wait to see the rest of what y'all come up with!
Now I'd better get back to slaving over Halloween costumes! Just a few more days!
S.
Today we're giving away this seriously adorable trick-or-treating bag from Baby's 1st Boo!
Handmade and reversible, the bag features one side with candy-corn festooned spiderwebs and one with Halloween Charlie Brown fabric (can you make out Lucy riding a broomstick near the moon there?). It's so cute and perfect for any little Halloween enthusiasts in your life!
To enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post telling us your favourite thing about Halloween. Earn extra entries by linking to the giveaway or to the Baby's 1st Boo website on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever else you've got!
The winner will be drawn on Friday, so don't wait!
So, guys, my FAVE holiday--Halloween!!--is coming up! What are *you* dressing up as? I'm going as
Charmy Kitty (the sweet Hello Kitty)
and Kate's going as
Kuromi, the bad Hello Kitty. :)
Fun!!
So many of you have Facebooked, Tweeted or emailed me to say you're dressing up as a Canterwood character for Halloween. That. Is. So. Cool. :D
For those of you who do, here's a new CONTEST! Yay!
RULES:
US residents only
1 photo per entry
Deadline: November 30, 2010
The deal:
Your *parent* or guardian has to e-mail me a photo of you in your Canterwood-themed Halloween costume by the deadline date. The email CANNOT be from you since I've got to have parental permission to post your pic on my blog. (Or I'll, you know, get in trouble. Eek!) There won't be any details about you posted--just your first name.
In the email from your parent, it has to state:
* Your first name
* The character you're portraying
* A photo of you in costume
* Permission for me to post the photo on my blog
Have your parent send that info to jess_burkhart @ hotmail dot com
One lucky winner will get a signed copy of the newest CC book! :) Start planning your costume now. I can't wait to see what you all come up with!
PS: I am taking a little time off for personal reasons. I'll blog/e-mail, etc., when I can.
xoxo
Because, again, I'm SURE you're all busy planning out your Halloween season (we can't possibly be the only ones...), here's another awesome event to think about adding to your list. Tracking the ghosts of Toronto's lovely Casa Loma!
On two evenings in the week leading up to Halloween and all throughout the day Halloween weekend, Casa Loma will be hosting well-known ghost trackers. Register now for a chance to learn all about ghost tracking and explore the castle on a ghost search of your own!
For more information and to register check out the website here (you have to scroll down past the earlier fall events to find it).
Sounds like fun!
S.
Just to keep y'all up to speed, I've created a Halloween 2010 page specifically to keep track of upcoming holiday events and make them easier to find for people as Halloween approaches and we're all getting into gear. Check back often for more stuff - and if you know of something spooky and fun for kids (be it local or online), don't hesitate to let us know!
By: Jessica Burkhart,
on 11/8/2010
By: Anne Spollen,
on 11/5/2010
One of those things did was take the kids to Six Flags, or two of the three kids and a friend. And of course then there was Halloween which completely absorbs me. We went to Six Flags just before Halloween.
Kuromi, the bad Hello Kitty. :)
You are not alone, DH, me and one of our three are not fans of rollercoasters.
The vampire family sound interesting.
Happy NaNo..:)
LOL! I thinking life getting in the way and doing stuff is way more important (and in many cases exciting) than blogging. And you know I'm not a big amusement park fan either. We live just up the road (like 65 miles) from a Six Flags and a Sea World and I've never been to either. A waste of money....
I have to admit, I love disneyland...but that Lincoln thing is kind of scary! And I'm with your son on the cars that little kids get to drive...don't like them at all.
I'm going to disney tomorrow actually, but I bet I won't be lucky enough to see a vampire family. That must have been so creepy-cool!
Happy Wet November! We are baking here in SoCal....95 on Thursday. Gross.
Shelley
My form of terror, Glynis, is having teenagers learning to drive. And I'm going to Nano today. Having announced it here and getting that extra hour of time, I'll be more of a disgrace than I already am if I don't at least start.
I like blogging, Bish, I just get really computer-phobic sometimes. I think it's that there were only a few nice days left and I couldn't stand sitting inside at the keyboard. It's gross here now so I'll get more writing done.
And SeaWorld my kids liked way, way more than Disney. We had gone to more aquariums along the way I guess.
Shelley, It wasn't just the talking Disney Lincoln that got Philip. We were in some kind of boat where the dolls along the cave walls starting singing. He tried to bolt. I tell ya...kids make you a very flexible person.
95, wow. I always say I would miss the seasons, but that sounds like perfect pool weather. We are baking, too, but the kind that you do to make banana bread to keep the house warm.
So funny - I'm not a theme park person either. I don't like not being in control, so the roller coasters are not my thing. I think I'm a total control freak actually... :)
I agree, the vampire family is the scariest of them all!
I didn't see your nano name - I'm jemifraser if you want to buddy up though :)
I've had entirely different theme park experiences, but I share the general feeling--at least, I think that I started not to enjoy theme parks once I had an elementary concept of finance and how ridiculously expensive "fun" could be, whereas going to the beach was free and inspired similar feelings of exhaustion at the end of the day (and the beach was better, because then Dad could toss me unceremoniously into the surf and kick up tons of sand and spray and not be scolded by the lifeguards, who were probably too sunburnt to care anyways). But I think it's very courageous of you to go to a theme park around Halloween--I went to the Trail of Terror once or twice and was so jittery afterwards that it took a can of coke and some ice cream to calm me down. And professional scarers can't be laughed off: if they don't get you the first time, then maybe you'll spend a couple hours worry free but you turn the corner and GAH! "How did you fInD mE??" Some of those people are just regular actors, I know; but, I think some of them have a genetic predisposition for general "creepiness".
I took my kids to Tokyo Disneyland and we enjoyed it, but I let them know ahead of time that NOTHING would get me on a roller coaster. Personally, I've never been able to stand people dressed up as Disney characters and I was intrigued to see that my kids hated them too, although I made sure not to voice my own feelings.
As for NaNoWriMo, I cut out the middleman this year and did not even start. I know I can churn out prose; I know I can start and finish a novel. What I need work on is getting one polished enough to get published, so that's where I'm trying to concentrate my energies.
Roller coasters frighten me. I've never been on one. I'd rather be with the vampire family.
I go to fairs once in a while. I love the rides, as long as I don't have to be upside down.
Hey Shannon! Nice to hear from you again. Yes, the beach is better. And you're right about the "professional scarers" - Emma was actually getting upset so we had to put her in the middle of the group. Those folks seem just the tiniest bit sadistic to me. I think we are better off at aquariums and pools; no one chases you there...
You're right about the churning, Mary. Except that's what I can't do. I agonize. I thought NaNo would make that internal editor be quiet since it's quantity over quality so I thought I'd try it. I just have to get my butt over there. And yes about the Disney characters.
You've NEVER been on a roller coaster, Medeia? You may be the first person I've ever known who has never been on one. And yes, I think most writers would have been intrigued by that family. Upside down rides? I have enough trouble keeping myself moored as it is.