Happy Halloween!

I have been super excited for Halloween since it is Brinleigh's first "holiday".  I ordered her a cute butterfly costume from target, however, the Newborn size I ordered is a 0-9 month size.  Ummmmm..... there is a pretty big size difference between a newborn and a 9 month old.  Needless to say, it was ginormous on her little body.  I went on a hunt for costumes small enough for her that were still in stock since it was so close to Halloween.  I found a cute giraffe costume in 3-6 month size at Kohls.  She is still in 0-3 month size clothes, but this 3-6 would hopefully work.  I expected it to be a little big on her, even with clothes on underneath, but it fit a whole lot better than the butterfly costume.  Since the costume is pretty gender neutral, I put a couple bows on the ears to let the world know that my adorable baby giraffe is indeed a girl.  The outfit she wore underneath her costume was a "My First Halloween" onesie & some black pants with little white polka dots.  I also took one of her black headbands & instead of attaching the black flower clip that goes on it, I attached an orange bow clip instead.  Brinleigh also got to wear her Halloween outfit & her costume several times, not just once.  

Last Friday the Coast Guard set up a haunted house in the hangar.  They had two different tours, a mild one for the kids from 3-4pm and then an adult tour from 4-5pm.  There was also a costume party at the Eagle's Nest (the bar on the Coast Guard Base) afterwards.  So the kids party was from 3-5pm & then the adult costume party started at 8pm.  Kolt didn't have to work this day, but he did have to go in & work the haunted house for a few hours.  I dressed Brinleigh in her giraffe costume & took her up to the hangar to walk thru during the mild tour.  Kolt met us & escorted us through the haunted house, showing me where people were hiding & the more gruesome acts that would be set up for the adult tour.  We didn't walk thru with a tour guide or with a group of people & since all of the coastie's inside the haunted house knew it was Kolt & that we had Brinleigh, nobody jumped out & scared us or anything.  It was kind of like a walk-thru just to see it.  But I do have to admit that it was a pretty awesome haunted house & that just from seeing the mild tour, I would have been scared out of my mind to go on the adult tour.  Brinleigh & I went home afterwards & didn't go to the costume party since Kolt had to stay & work the haunted house.  Oh & for those who are curious as to what he had to do..... he got to run a chain saw & scare people with it.  He was "behind the scenes" so he didn't end up having to dress up.    

On Halloween night the town has "downtown trick-or-treating" for all of the kids.  They close off the main road that runs through down town so that no cars can drive through & all of the businesses hand out candy.  This starts around 4pm & ends at 6pm.  Since most of the stores close at about 4 or 5pm, the shop employee's will close their store but keep the front doors open & sit at the front door to hand out candy as all the kids come by.  Kolt had to work but I took Brinleigh downtown & we walked with my friend, Kate.  I carried Brinleigh in the baby wrap & she fell asleep by the time we had gotten to the end of the street.  But we got a few pieces of candy in her bucket, not that she can eat any of it.  Of course she had no idea what was going on, but it gave me something to do with her outside of the house & it gave me an excuse to dress her up in her costume.  After we were done trick-or-treating we came home to pass out candy to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters.  By the time we got home it was already dark & trick or treating had already started.  The entire town of Sitka pretty much brings their kids to Coast Guard housing to trick or treat.  It's enclosed, no traffic, & all of the houses are really close together.  So after navigating my way down the road outside of housing which was lined on both sides with cars, I get stopped at the gate where Coasties are blocking people from driving into housing.  I had to show my I.D. to get into my neighborhood where I could then only drive about 3mph since there were children EVERYWHERE.  Once we made it home, Brinleigh & I stood out on the front porch handing out candy for about an hour.  She got numerous compliments on her little giraffe costume & ended up falling asleep again before we came in the house.  All in all, it was a good night.