Subscribe via RSSCamping meets Halloween
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 |
The Matthews’ brood piled into a borrowed camper and bounced down the road for a weekend of recreational homelessness. Not just any weekend of fun without creature comforts, but one with a theme. The theme—Halloween.
A weekend filled with Halloween hijinx, tricks, treats, costumes, and a solid dose of being outside with the bugs, dirt and dirty bugs..
Loyal readers will know that I am, how can I say this nicely, not one to have a crush on Mother Nature. We get along. She stays outside and I stay inside. We have that mutual understanding. So far it’s worked out swimmingly, but I can’t swim—even indoors.
The entire outdoor weekend was filled with games and events for the kids--outside. One evening was the big Halloween costume contest. There were werewolves, princesses, an entire family of Smurfs, and us.
We (mistakenly) let the girls pick costumes for everyone. We let Mark pick the name of a pet fish one time and he chose, “Silver Power Ranger Fish”. We should have learned our lesson. Never allow the children to decide anything. We did not heed this advice. Everyone went as Hula Girls. Everyone lined up and was issued their coconut bra including Mark’s buddy who tagged along for the weekend. He thought this was going to be all fun and games. He didn’t know Polynesian cross-dressing was planned. He may have reconsidered . So there we stand all supported coconut style flaunting our hairy legs through the grass skirts.
The girls looked great. Sweet angels with flowers in their hair. Even my beautiful wife rocked the outfit. The boys looked goofy and I, alone, looked a little creepy. There should be an after-school special about “Don’t talk to a grown man in a grass skirt.”
I avoided eye contact with everyone I could, but ended up running into several co-workers, and some people from my past including a couple I went to high school with (I believe he should now be referred to as “Dr. Bobber”). There’s nothing more fun than running into people you haven’t seen in over a decade. See how much they’ve changed, find out where they work, and then giggle at their primitive underwear. (Thank you, Dr. Bobber for not staring).
Over the weekend, I came up with a few suggestions for the folks who organized the event. First, you did a wonderful job packing the weekend full of events. So full, I had to take vacation days to recuperate. Perhaps next year there could be a separate portion of the event held indoors. Maybe with air conditioning!
Second, having Trick or Treating in the summer time is genius! We just finished up the Easter candy and it’s still a few weeks before the big parade candy season. It is necessary to keep our house supplied with free Tootsie Rolls all year long. I remember hearing about the great Tootsie shortage in the 30’s. My grandparents were changed forever by it.
Lastly, next year could there be some sort of rule about grown men wearing coconut bras in public? I chafe easily!
Mark and his buddy
Smurf Family
Me and my “Bro”
