Halloween was a lot different for us this year compared to the two we celebrated in Angola. First, the embassy hosted a Halloween trick-or-treat party the Friday before Halloween which was amazing! The embassy sections went all out with decorations and even spook alleys in their halls to make it more exciting for the kids. And of course, there was no shortage of candy handed out! Here are the kids with their school friend Saanvee that wanted to come. Rhea had fun being Pocohantas with a Jean jacket because she was cold (she actually looked more like a hippie than anything else), Savannah was the Queen of Hearts (but her crown fell off before the picture), and Thomas was Frodo from Lord of the Rings.
Carl, Zeke, Thomas, _____, Saanvee, Elise, Savananah and Ella.
Rhea went and had some face painting done for her costume along with her friend Celeste, the cat.
Briant and I surprised our kids by dressing up this year (it's been a while), as pirates. We had fun acting the part with our "Argh matey" together. ;)
Here's Melo and his bloodiness, and the cut off hand lying on the floor could have only been put there by his dad, Avo (whom we love!).
Here's Briant in his section that he and his office decorated.
Thomas with a few of his best friends Carl and Zeke.
The health unit decorated ironically in dead, bloody bodies. ;)
Some fun costumes:
After trick or treating, we gathered in the marine house for a potluck and movie. The marines turned on a Halloween themed movie called "Hocus Pocus." We decided to leave and go home to watch a movie of our own. We watched "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," an oldy but goody.
On Saturday we decided to carve our pumpkin since we were getting close to Halloween on Tuesday. The kids helped plan the design and then clean the pumpkin out. Rhea wasn't very excited about the "guts" of the pumpkin.
Bri did the actual carving so the kids wouldn't cut themselves. Nice job dad!
Another 10 year long tradition that we have at Halloween is making ghost cookies. Nutter butter cookies dipped in white chocolate with little mini chocolate chips for the eyes (except for a few of the Obama years when we did an honorary chocolate edition). Sooooo simple and yummy! Luckily we were able to order them and have them delivered in Africa and now again here in Latvia!
A few hours before the trick or treating festivities began on Halloween, the Elders texted and asked if they could stop by for a few minutes. We had our regular Elder Yost, but this time he was on splits with a brand new greenie, Elder Wright from England. They brought homemade sugar cookies decorated with skulls! They were so sweet to think of us! We went and picked them up, brought them home and fed them, and sent them off with a few pieces of American candy. We love the Elders! Elder Yost texted later and said that Elder Wright told him, "That was the first time someone has treated me like a human since I have been in Latvia." I had to laugh out loud because I know exactly what he means! You feel like an alien far from home when you first land in a foreign country especially when people stare at you or look at you differently because you don't speak their language or look like a local. It's hard for the locals to treat you like "one of them" and it's such a culture shock. I'm glad that we could help him feel "normal" for a night!
So we didn't know what to expect for trick or treating here in Latvia, but soon learned that there are a few areas around the main international schools where non-Americans have adopted the holiday and join in the festivities. Here in Pinki there were about 20-25 houses decorated and participating in trick or treating, so we had plenty of door knocking to do. They're mostly Russian and Latvian, with a few Canadians and Americans in the area participating. We had to hurry up our goodbyes with the Elders because Savannah was "picked up" by her friends from school to go trick or treating. Georgina, Polina, Madara, Casey, and Matea. Savannah came back home after a few hours and said she had a blast!
Rhea went trick or treating with me while Thomas caught up with Carl and Zeke and his dad. Rhea has had some sad drama with girls in her class, so she and I went out together and had fun. We actually ran into Celeste and Ashlyn from her class, so they trick or treated together at a few houses before we walked them home and they counted their candy together.
I've never seen a pumpkin with holes poked out all over--I loved it!
And here at the end of the night, we have to count what's left of our candy after eating while trick or treating (and after dad took his dad tax). ;) A fun night and holiday all together! Not what I expected coming from Angola where we trick or treated at 4 apartment doors of embassy workers that lived in the same apartment building. We were very spoiled here this year with a pretty normal American Halloween!
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