All Hallow's Eve

We've done more than our share of candy-gathering this Halloween! After going to "Trick or Treat Town" in Anchorage on Saturday, we went to the church Harvest Festival on Sunday evening. That was fun with lots of games, candy, toys, hotdogs, cotton candy and popcorn.

Then of course we went trick or treating around town last night for actual Halloween night. The weather was much nicer this year than last. There was minimal snow on the ground and the temperature was up around 40 degrees... almost a heat wave!

Both Tess and Alicia made a good haul of candy. Alicia was really into it this year, much more than last when she was content to suck on the first Dum-Dum lollipop she got and stay warm in the van. This year she said "trick or treat" (admittedly, she's been receiving ample tutelage from Barney's Halloween video on how to "do" Halloween), and after each house she said, "okay, let's go to the next one". :o)

We've come up with a new plan this year for dealing with the surplus of candy... The girls each picked 20 pieces of candy from the pile. (Okay, we picked Alicia's for her.) Stephen also picked 20 pieces. They'll eat one piece a day which will last till Thanksgiving. We gave the rest of the candy to the Public Information Center at my building. They keep a bowl of candy for their patrons...

In other news, Stephen's birthday is Sunday. We'll be celebrating by going out to eat, as usual. Then I'll be flying to Juneau that evening for 3 days of GIS training. I'm presenting on Monday at a GIS conference for the Tlingit and Haida tribes of Alaska. Then I'm doing some training for our staff on Tuesday and Wednesday.