Sam's First Competition

Sunday night, Sam and I attended the fall carnival at the church of a dear friend. Thank you Linda, Billy and Sarah for inviting us. We had a wonderful time!

Sam was a little hesitant when we arrived at the church because there were so many people and almost everyone was in costume! Very soon after we got there, I made him stand with about 8 other toddlers for the costume contest. Soon after that, he warmed up and suddenly he was very into playing all the games. Sam was definitely more interested in the activities than he was in the goodies. He got a tattoo, rescued ducks from a pond, hit a hole in one, slam dunked a basketball, and decorated a pumpkin. Sam stayed very focused as he went from classroom to classroom with his friend Bradley.

After the activities, it was time for Trunk-or-Treat. This was our first one and Sam and I were both impressed by how fancy the decorations were. My favorite costume of the evening was Santa and the elf. It just seemed so random and unexpected. But the costumes were nothing compared to their decorations outside. While everyone else had spiders and witches and pumpkins and everything else scary, the elf had huge inflatable snowmen flanking her car. She also had Christmas music playing and lots of Christmas decorations. It was fabulous! That, of course, is the only way I want to see Christmas before Thanksgiving. I won't be bullied around by all the retail stores that have been decorated for weeks. But I'm birdwalking...back to Halloween. Sam REALLY got into the trunk-or-treating once he figured out what it was all about.

Sam and I had an amazing evening that bookended a wonderful weekend. We're very sorry that Daddy missed all the fun. Here are a few pictures from the fall carnival and Sam's train engineer/conductor costume. Enjoy! By the way, we found out at the end of the evening that Sam won the toddler costume contest!