Garrett accepted his spider costume without much fuss. He really wanted to be a goose. Gavin was psyched about his very traditional ghost costume. Bodie didn't have a choice, his costume was the third revolution of our hand me down skeleton. It's a classic - and it matches my glow-in-the-dark Misfits skeleton shirt!

We trick-or-treated up and down our little street, then ventured beyond into the neighborhood. There seemed to be less houses observing Halloween this year. I can see that if there aren't many kids in your life, October 31st is just the last day of the month. We only patronized the homes with spooky decor, to be sure that they were aware trick-or-treaters would be coming. Last year we hit a couple houses that had their lights on, but they had forgotten it was Halloween. I remember the shocked looks on the faces of our neighbors, then their rummaging through their kitchens for emergency treats! We ended up with a few granola bars and ziplocked oreo cookies. 

This has been a very Halloweeny week for our family. Tuesday night we went downtown to the Battleship Bash on the USS North Carolina. It's a huge (and apparantly haunted, as shown by the Ghost Hunter show) WWII battleship permanently docked on the Cape Fear river. What a setting for a Halloween bash! It was another perfect excuse to wear their costumes. Gavin was so excited to scare people, he started right away in the parking lot. Everyone we passed by would get a loud "BOO!" from him when they got close. It was so funny! "C'mon Garrett! Try to scare some people!" he said. What a hoot.

On the ship they had several spots to get candy. Our kids were really taking the scaring business seriously. The place was crawling with costumed youngsters. The highlight of the evening was the big bouncy house at the bow of the ship. We waited in line for 20 minutes. The boys had to take off their costumes and shoes to bounce in it, and Gavin was so funny about it. He was really hesitant to reveal his identity, and when he finally did he shouted out "Look everyone, I'm not a ghost! Its okay everybody, its just me! See? I was just wearing my halloween costume" He was really serious. That was the funniest thing I think he's ever done! People in line got a good chuckle out of that.

 The aquarium was a bunch of the same. Scaring, laughing, and candy looting. It was more fun for us parents because it was not as mobbed, and we could actually keep track of them while enjoying the incredible exhibits.