Halloween and Becoming a Band Fan!

We are finally blogging about the end of October and Halloween, so we can include the pictures we took of some of our favorite costumed trick-or-treaters. This year we got to participate in Halloween in two different states--plus we got to experience the best high school band we have ever seen! We made a flight from Kansas City to Houston, where we were met by one of our favorite families--our nephew and niece (Brian and Alexia) and their family. We visited them a year ago in Newfoundland, Canada, so their youngest son, Cooper, is wearing his Canadian astronaut costume for his preschool Halloween party this year.

We got to experience a bit of Texas Halloween during that visit.

But the real reason that we made the trip was to see their two oldest children performing in their high school marching band. Wow! Things have changed in the 40 years since we were in band! These students have been practicing on their music and marching techniques at daily practices since two weeks before school started. They have sectional practices and marching practice, they come early to school and stay late. It's a huge time commitment to be in one of the best high school bands in the United States! They even had matching shirts for us to wear to the contest, so we are certified band fans!

When we got to the contest in Houston, we had no idea what to expect. But we were totally blown away with what we saw. They have hundreds of students marching in precision on the field, plus props so big that they need several eighteen-wheeler trucks to transport them. They feature flags and dancers and soloists, and the percussion section is set out front on mini-stages. The organization is monumental, because they have just five minutes to get everything and everyone on the field. Then they have an eight minute show that just amazed us! We could have watched it over and over because there are so many moving parts and so much to see. We were trying to keep up with Katrina and Camden on the field, but it was almost impossible. Wow! 

These two high schoolers are very busy, and we never really got to take a picture with Katrina. We snapped this picture of Camden between performances. They got to the finals for a second performance, and then got first place in their 25-band area to qualify them for state competition. How many times can we say, "Wow!" We were so impressed with their high school band!

We had more time to spend with the younger two boys, whose schedules have not yet consumed all their time. Cole is showing off one of our wildlife pictures of the day--holding a little lizard in his hand while modeling his matching band-supporter shirt.

While in the metro area, we made the drive to see the Houston ship channel. We could see the ships coming in from the Gulf of Mexico.

We also stopped at the San Jacinto Battle Memorial. You can see part of our group with upraised arms at the base of the 567-foot-tall column. It's the tallest column memorial in the world, and we look quite small! This monument recognizes the importance of the battle fought here in 1836, which was the final battle of the Texas Revolution. The words engraved in the side of the memorial recognizes that this battle led to the United States gaining control of parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In other words, one-third of the present area of the United States changed from Mexican to U.S. control at the conclusion of the battle fought here.

After several years in Newfoundland, Canada, this family is settling into their new house in The Woodlands. That includes hanging pictures.

Mark and Brian did the math and the leveling for the 28 pictures that will hang in this room.

Our second wildlife picture came as a real surprise. Even though they live in a very urban area, we were shocked to look out in their big back yard to see a coyote right by the back porch!

He especially liked hanging out at the pool, and seemed to be very curious about us.

Four-year-old Cooper wanted him to feel welcome. Using his best pre-school penmanship and sounding out the letters himself, he wrote, "Luv Ciyodes" on a sign to let the coyote know that he was loved.

That was a fun trip to Houston, but we left a couple days before the end of October so we could spend Halloween with another family important to us. We flew into Kansas City to spend time again with our grandchildren. We had some great weather for outdoor activities--like spending time with neighbor Mary and her animals. We realized that we didn't get a picture of Mary (who is a devoted reader of the blog)--just her hands as she held one of her horses . . .

and one of her chickens. Our grandchildren love visiting this special friend and her animals.

We always enjoy our time in the Kansas City area!

We have never missed a Halloween with them. We had already made green eye-ball cookies, so we also made peanut butter and chocolate bats as well.

The children's costumes were ordered long ago when Carter decided that she wanted to be Belle, from the movie "Beauty and the Beast."

Of course, that meant that Eli would be "The Beast." Halloween morning Carter announced that we would all be characters from the movie. So Mark is Belle's Papa.

Jordan is Mrs. Potts, the castle housekeeper who is turned into a tea pot in the movie. Luke is Gaston, the dashing suitor that tries to win Belle's heart. We made his belt and arm shields that morning.

Carter decided that Gram would be Luminere, the maitre d' who is turned into a candelabra. We painted the flames as part of a craft project that morning. 

Since he just turned two, this is really Eli's first Halloween to go trick-or-treating. When he found the bowl of candy and glow sticks that we were leaving on the front porch for visitors, he thought he would just save some time and load up his bag right here.

But after he learned how to ring doorbells and yell "Trick or Treat!" he loved that process even better. We had great weather for a walk around their neighborhood, and each one of them got to choose a special treat before bed time.

We've had a great last week of October, celebrating Halloween with people we love, and becoming a band fan!