Halloween fun

Yesterday morning we went up the mountain one last time before our pass expired at the end of October. There was hardly anyone up there, since apparently there were better things to do on Halloween than go up the mountain (and we had 3 days of cooler weather this week that made it feel like fall/winter, so people probably didn't feel the need to go cool off at higher elevations).

We hiked around for a while and had fun exploring a bit.

The trees have been shedding their leaves/pine needles, so we made a little pile and Rachel had fun jumping in it. Poor kid-it's a lame substitute for a real leaf pile, but it's better than a pile of cactus, which is all we could scrape up at home.

When we went back to the picnic area for lunch we were almost swarmed by birds. Apparently they're used to eating leftovers from picnic-ers. Some of them got soooo close we could touch them if we wanted to. They either had no fear or were really hungry. A few chipmunks got in on the action, too.

It was a short, but fun excursion.

After trunk-or-treating last week Rachel learned the TRUE meaning of Halloween and was plenty excited to do it again on real Halloween. Grandma Knight came with us to some of the houses around our little block. Rachel had a really good time and is SOOO excited to have a big stash of Halloween candy. Too bad (for her) she has such mean parents that ration it out just a little each day.

(ignore the panties on the ground-Rachel is in the undressing/naked-is-fun stage)

Friday we carved a pumpkin. Rachel had a good time picking out the seeds, and after we roasted them enjoyed eating them for a while. Unfortunately our in-action shots of the pumpkin carving accidentally got deleted. But here are the finished products: Jack, Fred, and Mummy.

And Rachel making her own Jack-O-Lantern face, I guess:

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween, too! Now that Halloween is over I've gotten out the Christmas music! My favorite time of the year. (I know Thanksgiving comes next, but I see no harm in getting into the Christmas spirit a little early.)  =)