Halloween Warmup

Thea was proud of her inventiveness with the nailpolish! Three colors! “Take a picture, Mom!”

We found some friends at the Halloween parade in Camp Hill.

Jason’s Luke Skywalker costume arrived just in time, and they dressed for the East Pennsboro Halloween Parade. Thea is Darth Vader, but without the helmet. Jason introduced them: “Hello, I am Luke and this is my father…”

Finn refused to wear his Yoda costume.

They decorated Halloween goodie bags to give Thea’s soccer friends, on Saturday.

It was their last game of the season, so this was the final pre-game “Go Wildcats” wallop!

There was a really tall kid on the other team, and he was really talented and speedy! The parents gasped on the sidelines: “He’s got to be at least seven!”

Thea was a little dejected: “I wanna score a goal, Daddy”.

He told her she just had to keep it away from the tall boy and he knew she could out run him. That made her smile, as only her daddy can do.

And she kept it away from the tall boy.



After the game, she and Finn handed out the goodie bags they’d stuffed the night before.

There were plastic fangs… among other things.

It was her pal Spencer’s birthday, so his mom brought a special soccer cupcake cake.

She enjoyed her cupcake.

And her fangs.

Later, Finn and Thea played nicely for a few moments.

They fed the Irish Christmas cake and put it away for further marination.

And they made egg salad, trying a new technique for peeling eggshells from hardboiled eggs. “Hey, let’s try the Facebook video: A jar and a bit of water.” Thea loved the shaking-the-bottle part.

And then, we put the kids in their jammies and set off to Western PA, so I could run in the “End of the Road” half marathon. It involved sections of the old Pennsylvania Turnpike and tunnels that had been closed to the public since the 1960s… a spooky Halloween theme.

Along the way, Finn learned to pee alongside the road.

In our hotel room, they shared a bed. Relishing the quiet, Jason hiss-whispered as I took this picture: “You know you’re playing with fire, right?”

The next morning, we made it to the rural high school cafeteria. I didn’t get to wear any of the cute clothes I’d devised for the Halloween theme because the weather was 40-degees and raining.

Five miles out across rolling countryside with fall colors so lovely, even in the rain, we finally arrived at the old Sidling Hill tunnel which was 1.7 miles long (a race photographer took this shot from the inside, looking out).

I was happy to have the baseball cap to direct the water away from my face.

Finally! I made it!

There I am!

They came in for hugs, but realized I was soaking wet and didn’t want to touch me.

And then I got a hot shower and we went home to Camp Hill.