Well, thanks to some last-minute improv by Finn (fashioning a tinfoil hat to make himself into a “conspiracy theorist”) and a quick trip to the Army surplus store (to bolster Henry’s military duds), both boys got into the swing of trick-or-treating this year, bringing home thousands of calories in loot. 🙃 Here’s a quick peek at their getups. [And check out our Halloween category for fun stuff from past years.]
Category: Halloween
As the chaps are scrambling around to devise some last-minute Halloween costumes, I thought it’d be fun to whip up a little Throwback Thursday gallery showing some of their fun getups from years gone by. Enjoy!
Finn’s a huge fan of late-year holidays, so while all of us were bummed that trick-or-treating had to be called off due to the pandemic, he was especially sad. Happily, though, we found ways to rally and keep things “festive,” as he likes to say: Mom-O & the guys carved pumpkins, and then all five of us (including Seamus!) donned costumes before heading to a socially distant party at our friends Matthias & Samantha’s little farm.
Check out our not-so-spooky gallery. 🎃
It’s such a pleasure to turn the guys on to good music, and Hen in particular loves to request tunes on our Google Home devices. He’s a fan of classic rock, and earlier this year he & I had a blast seeing Texas legends ZZ Top in concert.
For Halloween we donned their iconic beards, hats, and cheap sunglasses while Mom made us some terrific fuzzy guitars. Kids of course had no idea who we were (“Gandalf the Grey…?”), but tons of parents gave us shout-outs as we trick-or-treated with Hen’s pal Esteban. Check out a gallery of our photos covering the assembly process & the big night.
One fun detail: Henry didn’t want to wear cheap sunglasses at night: “We’re not the Blues Brothers, and it’s not 106 mi. to Chicago.” 😝
Finn’s recently come to love the comedy Superstore, and for Halloween he decided to dress up as clueless manager Glenn, with Seamus joining in as his Employee of the Month!
On Sunday we headed over to a costumed-dog parade (yes, laugh it up, Dad, this is who we are now 😜) in downtown Willow Glen. In the car on the way over, Seamus got cozy with me in the back seat. “Good thing he sat on your lap & not mine,” Finn tells me, “’cause otherwise it would’ve been a violation of company code.” 😛
Here’s our album of photos, including some Seamus-eye views.
Greetings from 007, Amelia Earhart, & Mr. Horz. 😍
(Hover your mouse back and forth across the image to see the 3D effect. You can do it, Mom! 😜)
My crazy three! 😝😍 #007 #HappyHalloween
Posted by John Nack on Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Somewhere in the fun of butterfly watching & Halloween partying & carbohydrate mass-ingestion during our pal Maria’s visit in 2016, I neglected to post pics of that year’s epic pumpkin-carving session. This year I got home too late to carve with Margot & the dudes. So, although I can show just a couple pics of their fun results, I’ll right the old wrong & share this gallery of carving with Maria. You’ll be pleased to know that then as now, I clearly dressed up as Suburban Dork. 😝
Well, another great Halloween is in the books & in our bellies. Gone (for now) are the days of the dudes rocking Mom-O’s awesome homemade costumes, but they still looked cool in their viking & werewolf getups. Finn cruised around another neighborhood with his pals while Hen patrolled near our house with neighbors Henry D. & Sadie. Check our our little gallery!
For the last several years, our Las Madres friends Phil & Michelle have put on an excellent Halloween party complete with haunted house, tons of crafts, and neighborhood trick-or-treating. This year Maria donned Margot’s Rosie the Riveter getup & joined the Crash Test Dummy (Finn), Caution Tape (Hen), Medusa (Mom-O), and Captain Kirk (you know who) for some mask- and lantern-making & more. Stay tuned for more shots of the dudes in their costumes. Meanwhile, here’s a little gallery.
The guys have been patiently waiting over the last month to finally carve the giant pumpkins they picked out. (Unlike in the chilly Midwest, pumpkins out here tend to rot about 5 minutes after they’re carved, so we had to bide our time.) Henry designed a pretty solid owl, though as you can see in the gallery, he spent much of his time eating himself under the table—literally—with all kinds of corn (pop & candy). Finn meanwhile enjoyed breaking out the little carving kit we bought and fashioning some kind of diabolical weirdo. Mom-O reports that both were a hit with visiting trick-or-treaters. 🙂
Hen’s traffic cone prayers have been answered: through Mom-O’s help he’s been transformed into a giant orange cone for Halloween! Finn is equally happy to have gone over to the Dark Side & become Lord Vader; Mom-O is resplendent in Dia de los Muertos make-up; and I’m discovering just how unforgiving a tight Star Trek tunic can be. ;-p Here’s a little gallery from today’s costume party at our friend Ella’s house.
On this day, seven years ago, Finn tried a little bit of pumpkin (specifically the stems) while hanging out with our brand-new neighbor Maddie. Check out the shots below, as well as in this old gallery from the day.
Following our trip to the aviation museum, I drove the dudes to Half Moon Bay’s famous pumpkin patches. It’s something we’d wanted to do for years, but traffic horror stories kept us from chancing it. This year, though, with Mom-O in Seattle for the weekend, I figured, hey, I’m going to be on the hook for keeping these guys safe & entertained, so why not do so while they’re physically restrained? 🙂
I had fun filling the boys with sugar, then letting them burn if off by dead-lifting giant pumpkins & wheeling them around. Back at the ranch we applied kitchen knives, crowbars, and shovels to the pumpkin-carving process—and somehow no one lost a digit!
Check out the gallery from our adventure, and see also the crazy high-speed “hyperlapse” video below.
Last weekend the dudes & I checked out the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Haunted Hangar event, featuring a witch dropping a pumpkin from a helicopter! We enjoyed a little scavenger hunt & some craft-making before the signature event. Check out the gallery plus this video of the drop:
[YouTube]
The dudes & I had a ball trick-or-treating last week—or as they put it, “Trick or Meat!”/”Trick or Mouse!” (y’know, being a lion & owl & all). This baffled neighbor after unsuspecting neighbor, but I loved that they stuck with it. When we returned home, the guys got their first shot at handing out candy themselves! Henry was so into it that when we ran out, he dipped into his own bucket to share with visiting kids. (Not bad—and quite charming—for a kid who’s always scrapping with his bro over who got more toast, butter, etc.) This quick video gives a taste of our evening:
Answer: This guuuuuy. 🙂
(Photo snapped in the immediate aftermath of trick-or-treating.)
The lads were excited to suit up & get down to candy-eating & crafts at their friend Ella’s house this weekend. Here are a few pics of the whole gang, including ma in her kerchief & I in my too-tight cap.
Boy did I have a high opinion of myself in autumns growing up: Every year “I” would win a prize for having the best costume (headless horseman, knight, California Raisin, etc.). Little did I realize, of course, that the honors should go to my tirelessly creative mom, wielder of felt, glue, papier-mâché, and more.
Now Margot has taken up the proud mantle & is making excellent costumes for young Nacks. Check out her latest handiwork! 🙂
When I came downstairs yesterday, Henry popped out from behind a door in full owl regalia. After wildly “hoo”-ing at me for a few seconds, he thoughtfully lifted up his mask and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just me, Henry—not a real owl.” 🙂
Happy Halloween from the Micronaxx! The boys loved sporting the excellent Thomas & Mummy costumes Mom-O created (with slight assists from Dad-O), both at preschool & while trick-or-treating. Young engineer Hen did become kind of a train wreck at school (kids touching his fragile costume, etc.), but both guys were sugar-fueled champs as I led them in neighborhood candy-gathering. (No set of stairs is too daunting to haul one’s train costume up, as long as there’s that sweet, sweet lucre at the top.) Here are some shots from the occasion, plus a video below.