Adler’s Month of October

If you know my husband you know that Halloween is one of his favorite holidays, so we always try to make the month of October a fun one. You can read what we did last year here. I was excited this year because being back in Virginia meant that I could show Dane and Adler some of the traditions my family had when I was growing up! 

The first thing we did and probably my favorite thing from my childhood was going to Cox’s Farm. We went with Dane’s brother and his family and we had so much fun riding big slides, milking a cow, going on the best hayride I have ever been on, eating delicious food and petting the goats. The smell of cinnamon-toasted almonds and apple cider was all around you and seeing the joy on Adler’s face as he discovered new adventures made this a new family tradition. 

 The next weekend we went on a Halloween Eye Spy train ride. Adler LOVES trains so we knew we had to do this. We each got our own little car and an eye spy paper with pictures we were suppose to find along the ride. Adler didn’t really get the idea of finding the pictures but he loved seeing all the characters and holiday pictures on a ride through the forest. We know he likes something when he sits completely still and just stares at everything. This will probably also become a new tradition for us.

The week of Halloween was very busy! We started with our ward Halloween party. This was a lot of fun and Adler loved seeing all the kids in costumes. We ate at the make-your-own-hot-dog bar and then Adler enjoyed some pumpkin bowling before we headed out for trunk-or-treating. He could kind of say trick-or-treat but he was confused on why he couldn’t eat the candy as soon as he got it!

The Thursday before Halloween we had Under Armour’s party. We dressed up and then went to Dane’s office and walked around to different buildings to go trick-or-treating. Each department decorated their own floor so we got to explore haunted houses and candy lands. His company is huge so a lot of people were there with their kids but a lot of people were still hard at work. After trick-or-treating we went and got some lunch with Dane. 

This was Adler’s second Halloween but I think he is starting to get it more and more! I love when Halloween is on Saturday because then we get to spend all day with Dane. We watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and carved our pumpkins. Adler liked using the tools to scoop out the pumpkin guts but he did not want to touch it at all. Dane carved Adler a Mickey pumpkin and all Adler wanted to do was look at his pumpkin and show everyone Mickey. That night we got ready to go trick-or-treating but before we took some family pictures. Adler is starting to cooperate with family pictures but we still have to be on top of it and snap the pictures quickly! We decided to just do our neighborhood and we just did one street. We would ring the doorbell and we would tell him to say trick-or-treat. After a while he was more interested in if the people had dogs. They would open the door and he would just bark. It was adorable. People said he was the cutest owl ever even though half of the people thought he was a girl. We had a great Halloween and I can’t wait until next year when he is even older! After we put Adler to bed we watch Nightmare Before Christmas. 

We had a great month of October and now I am super excited for the upcoming months with Adler and my growing belly.

Adler's Month of October

The month of October has been so much fun! Dane and I have always loved Halloween and we always tried to do something fun– but let me tell you it is way more fun with a child. I love how children bring out the celebration in you and you want to celebrate and document everything! 

First, we just had to take Adler to a little pumpkin patch with some friends. The place we went was really cute but it was geared for some older kids. It will be fun to take Adler back when he can do more of the activities. They had a little corn maze, a little train (parents couldn’t ride so neither could Adler :( ), cider and donuts, brand new kittens and of course pumpkins! 

Living in Idaho Falls means there will be wind and boy was it windy when we went. We tried to take pictures and document the experience but mostly turned into hair everywhere, squinty eyes and shivering lips. So we picked our pumpkins and called it a day. It was so fun going to the farm especially with friends.

The farm had little kittens 

Our friend's kid on these cool bikes 

Haha these things are so funny

Next, we took our first Family photo! Dane and I love Fall because the leaves change and it makes the perfect back drop for pictures! Our friends knew the perfect place to take pictures and they were right! We took Dane’s camera and set it up on a tripod and then had our friend snap pictures and get Adler’s attention. We think they turned out great and I can’t wait to show them on our Christmas card.

We went to Utah for a weekend in October and while we were there we attended the Riverwoods Trick-or-treating. All the shops in the area were handing out candy and there were games and crafts you could participate in. Dane’s brothers joined us and this was the first time Adler wore his costume. I was so happy with how it turned out! 

The reason we went down to Utah was for a Whitmore Cousin Halloween party! I love all of our cousin parties and get togethers we have and I’m glad we are close enough that we can still attend most of them. This was the first time we wore all of our costumes. I was a mermaid, Dane was a shark and Adler was a scuba diver! We made all of our costumes with a little help from my cousin sewing my skirt. We really like how they turned out.

We always try to plan stuff for these parties but just end up talking the whole time. We do sometimes get movies in and at this party we watched Hocus Pocus. I love seeing all of my cousin’s costumes and what they come up with. I love my family and I’m glad we are all so close!

Playing with Amy's new puppies

Group Shot (thanks Amy :))

Our next Halloween event was Dane’s work party. This party was a lot of fun! Each office decorated their doors and the kids went around and trick-or-treated. They had a lot of contests at the party, a pumpkin carving contest, a picture coloring contest (for the kids) and a costume contest. Adler won the costume contest which was great because the prize was blocks, which he was in desperate need of! Then we had a yummy dinner and I met a lot of Dane’s co-workers. Dane and I discovered that was the first work party I was at since he started working with KLIM. It was a great party and so much more fun with our little boy!

Dinner was in their warehouse 

Adler's prize for best costume 

The local zoo hosts a Boo at the Zoo and ever since I saw an ad for it at the beginning of October I couldn’t wait to go!. They decorated the zoo in hundreds of lights and the kids would walk around the zoo and trick-or-treat. Some of the animals were still out so we walked around and looked at those as well. Adler is still too young to be interested in animals. He likes looking at them for a second and when we make the noises he likes it but then is easily distracted. They also had a costume contest and Adler took 1st place! He got a stuffed penguin and it was so cute because he kept hugging it. It was fun walking around the zoo and seeing all of the other kids. We will definitely do this again next year!

This face cracks me up!!

Ghostbusters! 

I love his face in this picture!

Waiting to be judged at the costume contest 

Picture with the other winners and the judges

Finally Halloween!! We were so excited for Adler’s first Halloween. We went over to our friend’s house and hung out and ate pizza before we left. Then we all got ready and headed out to trick-or-treat. Adler didn’t really understand what we were doing but we were outside and he loves to be outside even in the cold. I think he gets hot easily and loves to be cold. After TOT we went back to our friend’s house and just hung out. Alder crawled everywhere and we watched some Halloween movies and drank Hot Chocolate. 

So much candy!

Trick-or-treating is tiring

Halloween this year was so much fun! Even having a 7 month old that doesn’t get the concept of Halloween makes the holiday even more enjoyable than it was with just Dane and I. Adler wore his costume 5 times and he was so good at keeping his goggles on his head and not getting annoyed by his scuba tank! It was a great October and I’m glad we got to do so much this month. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas.