Halloween!!

Halloween was a ton of fun this year. I was able to see family and do a little trick or treating with them since we didn't work at West Ridge for the holiday. Last year he was a little too little to enjoy it really anyway. It was a lame way for me to get candy :) But this year, oh man! Did Cailen love this holiday! We started out with trick-or-treating at the nearby Assisted Living Center. Cailen very quickly learned what all those pumpkin buckets contained. And he never got the hang of "one candy per bucket"!! He managed to get 4 pieces from this one lady! She gave him a few extra and then I think he sneaked one when we weren't looking! We went there with my sister-in-law Amy and her boy Noah. Cailen loves Noah and he thought his mask was pretty cool, not scary!

Cailen and his "loot"

After the Assisted Living Center, we headed home to take a nap to recharge before the night's activities! Cailen woke up at the perfect time to head over to our ward's Trunk-or-Treating at our nearby park. We left the back of our Xterra open with some goodies for those who walked by and went off in search of friends and neighbors to show off Cailen's and my costume and get some goodies. Mark has to work Saturdays and was hoping to get off earlier than normal, but it hadn't happened yet, so we were without our "captain." Still, out pirate costumes were a hit and Cailen got more than his fair share of ooh's and aah's. They thought he was so cute and little and to be walking around demanding candy was just cute (so they thought. I was trying, and failing, to get him to at least say please and thank you, if not trick-or-treat). He took his new skill of recognizing pumpkins and getting-more-than-one-piece-of-candy-because-I'm-cute to a whole new level here. Man, we got a ton of candy! They were giving out hot dogs and bottled water so we stopped for a bite there to refuel. While walking around the park, Cailen saw the tractors and 4-wheelers giving hay rides and desperately wanted to go on them. We ended up not since I didn't think he would go for sitting on some kid's lap instead of his mom's. So maybe next year he'll be a little more adventurous.

After Trunk-or-Treating, we decided enough was enough. We needed Daddy. So we went down to his work and stole him :) Well, they let him go early, but we think that Cailen and I had something to do with it. We were just too cute to say no to. So Mark hurried and changed into his pirate costume and we met up with his sister Trisha and her little boy Braxton for some good ol' neighborhood Trick-or-Treatin'! We went up and down just one street and that took enough time and we got enough candy that we're going to have sweets to last us through next Halloween and then some! Mark's brother Kenneth came with us too. All of us were dressed up, with the Barber family being pirates, Braxton was a mummy, Trisha was a greek goddess and Kenneth was a gladiator. It was hilarious and fun. Cailen got the hang of knocking on doors just as fast as the pumpkins full of candy! He HAD to knock on each door and often would get in the way of people opening the door because he was still knocking! He had to get his own candy out of the bowl or else he didn't think he got any. He often tried to get more than one (again) and he even tried to go into people's houses!!! (don't know where that came from) All in all, it was a fun fun night. It started to sprinkle a little at the end, so that was our cue to be done. We headed back to Mark's mom's house to check out the loot and then headed up to my parents' house to do one last trick-or-treat and take some posed pictures. So, there's Halloween 2008! Enjoy the pictures and videos!

Cailen getting candy, knocking on doors, and being impatient for more doors to knock on (he would not be still for a picture!)

The Barber Family Pirates!