Pumpkins, Pirates, Pigs…and Some Other P Words

Although our Halloween party is practically an all-consuming affair, Jason and I love fall and Halloween too much to miss out on all the other seasonal activities just because we’ve got that whole party mess to work out.

Why is it that
How is it that the actors at places like this instantly know exactly who is the weakest link? This guy knew right away that he would get the best reaction out of me and didn't even bother trying to scare the guys.
It seemed you coul
You couldn't even approach Nightmare on 13th without their freaks finding you...especially if you happen to be a short mousy thing like me.

Early in October we took our friend Arvinder, who is visiting the U.S. from India for the first time, to Nightmare on 13th in Salt Lake City, which is one of the top haunted houses in the country. We thought this might be a little too much cultural immersion for him but he loved his good American scare. Before he would go into each new area at the haunted house he’d guess where all the creeps would be hiding and anticipate their surprise; he’d jump and then laugh whenever something startled him and he made sure he told all the actors that they were awesome.

Being
Being"stuffed" isn't usually considered an attractive characteristic but this scarecrow had it going on. Maybe it's because women simply can't resist a man in flannel.
sdfsd
These pumpkins were definitely not comfy but they made for some great pictures.
Our group forgot about acting our age at Cornbelly
Our group forgot about acting our age at Cornbelly's. We assailed each other with corn kernels, climbed up slides and raced down them, and crawled through makeshift tunnels. Being a grownup is overrated.
Jas
I love this cute picture of Jason chilling in the pumpkins.
I
I'm a sucker for a swing so these horses were completely irresistible.

We also went to Cornbelly’s a few weeks ago with a group of our friends. Agriculture may seem anything but entertaining, however, if that is the case, then Cornbelly’s is at odds with the natural state of the universe. Corn mazes, haunted hayrides, rubber ducky races, straw mazes, crazy slides, corn cannons, tetherball, and pig races are just a few of the endless activities that will divert you at Cornbelly’s. We quite enjoyed running, climbing, sliding, and crawling around like kids. We raced our duckies, climbed on rope webs, mulled over straw mazes, and held fierce sliding competitions. We had a blast but I am sad to report that we failed to successfully navigate a corn maze; after wandering around in one for almost 2 hours we found ourselves back at the entrance, not the exit, so, with that demoralizing blow, we gave up.

That scurvy dog looked like he may have already
That scurvy dog looked like he may have already visited Davey Jones' Locker or the Fiddler's Green a few times.
Have you ever seen such a bunch of lily-livered scallywags?
Have you ever seen such a bunch of lily-livered scallywags?
Jeremy and Amber came as Captain Hook and Smee
Jeremy and Amber came as Captain Hook and Smee. Amber made their fantastic costumes of course.
By the powers
By the powers! These jacks played some mighty fine tunes.
THe figurehead on this amazing
The figurehead on this amazing ghost ship was very chatty.

After our party was over, and time didn’t seem so compressed, we had a chance to attend a couple gatherings that we didn’t have to do any of the prep work for. Hallelujah! In addition to dropping by an adults-only bash hosted by Jason’s brother we went to a pirate themed shindig with the Rowleys, which was also just for grownups. The buccaneer party was put on by Jeremy’s boss, who happens to be the owner of the company he works for. It was definitely an atypical affair. Apparently the host spent over $60,000 on the custom animatronics he had build solely for this get-together. However, his many obsessed employees, who were the source of this information, were definitely prone to extreme exaggeration and out-right bragging when it came to their esteemed chief so I would be surprised if that cost estimate wasn’t on the high side but, either way, it was obvious that quite a bit of mullah had been shelled out to make this event happen. We loved the swashbuckling atmosphere, the yummy grog and grub, and dancing the Macarena. More than anything though we enjoyed being guests at this gathering instead of hosts.

I think that wig was meant for a child
I think that wig was meant for a child. In fact, I believe Jason wore it as a child. He wanted to race with it even though it didn't fit his huge head.
Angelic
Angelic? I don't think so.

On the 30th we decided to participate in a 5k fundraiser for Hale Center Theater called the Highway to Hale. The main appeal of this particular race was that costumes were encouraged; Jason and I were all about that. We didn’t want to wear anything too annoying though while we were racing so I simply donned angel wings and a halo while Jason sported a clown wig and some rather bright spider web socks. A lot of the other runners put Halloween spirit over comfort and raced in all sorts of completely awkward gear: a cow suit, a giant Wheaties box, a frigid looking grass skirt and coconut shells combo (on a guy).  We saw a group dressed as Mario Kart characters with cardboard boxes strapped around their necks serving as the karts. They looked great and were surprisingly graceful running with their bulky boxes…yeah, they passed me. Sad. Although I was outrun by the cardboard box people I still placed 17th out of the over 60 women in my age division. Jason, of course, put me to shame though. He finished 6th in his age group and, out of hundreds of race participants, he finished 23rd overall. What can I say? I’ve created a monster.

Chiseling
Chiseling our heads was fun work but Jason, predictably, cut himself.
Bonerrific
Bone-rrific!
The innards of these may look like pumpkin vomit but they
The innards of these may look like pumpkin vomit but they tasted a lot like hamburger meat mixed with onions, mustard, and cheese.
Toe-tastic
Toe-tastic? Looks more like finger-licious.

I decided that since we had over a week between our party and Halloween, enough time to sort of recuperate, that on Halloween I wanted to make a spooky dead man’s dinner for Jason. Jason was eager to help create this delicious yet disgusting feast so together we made shrunken head cider, bone calzones, trick-or-treat turnovers, and toe jam sundaes. Sounds scrumptious doesn’t it? It was actually quite tasty and a lot of fun to make. Preparing an unappetizing meal might just be a new Halloween tradition for us.