Halloween In China

Hello!  I realize I'm getting ahead of myself by not doing my Tokyo blog before this one, but I still don't have the pictures I need.  I also realize that Halloween was four days ago, but I'm lazy:).

While I was away Tim took the boys to a Halloween Party hosted by the International Club of Shenyang (ICS).  They had a great time playing games and "didn't get too much candy".  Nicholas has started taking Taekwondo after school and wanted to wear his outfit for a costume.  Ryan wore the only costume we had that fit him - Buzz Lightyear.

For the real Halloween which fell on Thursday night, I decided we wouldn't do anything.  I assumed the boys  would have forgotten about it but, thanks to kids at school, that wasn't so.  As I was getting supper ready Nicholas asked me what we were doing for Halloween and proceeded to tell me what another family was doing.  Oops!  I ate quickly and while the boys finished their supper, I threw together what I could.  Luckily I have a stash of treats from past holidays that no one else knows about.  I grabbed some of that as well as a few of the very expensive Reese Peanut Butter Cups I got at the airport in Seoul and went to work.  I took the pumpkins the kids had carved (thanks to Tina who babysat while I was away) and put them outside the bathroom and bedroom doors.  At another door I put this creepy jack-o-lantern doorbell that bites you when you press the button.

Ryan and Olivia carving their pumpkins.

When the boys were done eating I told them to get dressed up in their outfits and grab a treat bag.  This time Ryan had a ninja costume I found for him in Tokyo.  I turned off all the lights and told them to go to the kitchen while I lit up their pumpkins.  They visited the bathroom and bedroom doors which were answered by three different people (who all looked a lot like their mother).  First, SpiderMom gave them some marshmallow candies, then Canadian Hat Mom gave them candy canes and finally TranforMom gave them peanut butter cups.  Strangely enough, they loved it and thought it was pretty cool.  They were especially excited about the candy canes and Nicholas hounded me for hours wanting to know where I got them.

After our "Trick or Treating" we watched Halloween movies and ate candy.  It was fun.

As we sat watching our movies there was a knock at the door.  I assumed it was Tim coming home from work and, knowing he was on his way, I had unlocked the door so he could get in.  I yelled that it was open  but when the door opened it wasn't Tim after all.  We had Halloween visitors and one of them was pretty scary!

Anna and Dave were kind enough to bring us Halloween cupcakes and treat bags for the boys.  Can you tell Ryan is a little high on sugar??  He was pretty nervous of the gorilla and would only get in the picture if he could stand by the Anna the Goode Witch.

So, the boys had another unexpectedly fun Halloween in China thanks in great part to the wonderful expat community we have here.  Life is full of little surprises.

On Friday Ryan and I went out to find some socks for Tim and decided to check out a somewhat new mall.  We found one floor of play places and arcades, indoor go carts on another and finally bowling on the sixth.  We had time for one quick game and it was a lot of fun.  The place was still clean and the shoes were even quite nice.

Since we had so much fun bowling, it was decided that we would go again on Saturday and take Nicholas and Tim with us this time.  First the kids had soccer on Saturday morning (Ryan is playing this year!) then we were off to the mall.  It was great fun and afterward we ate at Pizza Hut.  Eating out here is always an experience - attempting to order and get what we want then trying to relax while people stare.  Anyway, we made it through then headed home.  Saturday night we had company for supper then on Sunday we relaxed while playing games and watching movies.  The air quality has been lousy here lately and we are very excited to get back to Nova Scotia for Christmas and a breath of fresh air.