Our local youth group organized a Halloween party and Trunk-or-Treat for the kids, so we took the girls to be a part of the fun on Halloween night! Dan decorated our trunk for Trunk-or-Treat, and was excited to show off his creation while handing out candy.
Our little Fit turned into a monster for the night!
Owin and the youth group leaders did such a great job of decorating!
Mio shouted “skeleton!” “ghost!” “bat!”, naming each decoration she spotted.
She REALLY wanted to go inside the “mystery room” that was locked up.
Peeking in.
Mirei was her typical exploring self, crawling everywhere.
Crawling and walking in the kitchen:
Mio participating in Trunk-or-Treat
Happy to get more candy!
Getting a photo with zombie hunter Owin
Mirei standing tall!
They had set up fun little games and activity stations outside.
Mio playing the fishbowl game.
Mirei crawling with baby Alex, who is a few months older than her.
My sweet little shrimp!
They had a photographer at the party, who took photos of everyone against a backdrop… Mio took full advantage — she kept going back in front of the camera, and even jumped in front of other people getting their photo taken and ruining their photos! She was so hyper at the party! (Special thanks to Yuseki Ota Photography for the pictures below.)
I realized that photos of the four of us are rare these days… so it was nice to get a family photo!
Showing off the girls’ sushi costumes
Posing like a pro in front of the camera!
There were a bajillion photos of her at the end…
She demanded, “Take a picture!” to the photographer. Little Miss Bossypants…
This might be my favorite!
A group photo with everyone who was in costume.
Thank you to Owin and all the other youth group members who did such an awesome job planning and organizing the Halloween party! Our whole family thoroughly enjoyed it — Mio didn’t go to sleep until 11pm that night because she was so excited from it.
Mio had such a great time going to Trunk-or-Treat around town last year, so we definitely wanted to take her and Mirei again this year. Mio has been looking forward to Halloween for a while now, and had been carrying her pumpkin bucket around practicing shouting “trick-or-treat!” I’m pretty certain that Halloween is her favorite time of year. 😉 We went to both Vienna Baptist Church and Emmanuel Lutheran Church again this year. Here are some photos of all the trick-or-treating fun!
Mio and her friend Junna at Vienna Baptist Church.
Mio ready to trick or treat as a salmon nigiri!
Playing games at the Fall Festival at VBC.
Playing with an owl finger puppet toy she won.
Playing the fishing game again. (We remember this from last year!)
Mio getting her face painted.
Showing off Mirei’s shrimp costume!
Mio was a salmon, and Mirei was a shrimp!
Let the Trunk-or-Treat begin!
Some of the trunk decorations were very well done! Here’s one with a huge spider.
We loved this Lion King-themed trunk!
Mio carefully depositing her candy.
Sorry you can’t have any yet, Mirei!
Our little shrimp in Daddy’s arms.
Mio playing the playground of Emmanuel Lutheran, where she goes to preschool.
Mio had such a great time at Trunk-or-Treat, and she’s been admiring her candy loot in the days since! She likes to dump all of it out on the floor, carefully examine, comment, and count each one, and then put it all back and select a couple to eat every day. She’s surprisingly been pretty good about not trying to eat all of them at once, and has been exercising admirable restraint for a 3-year-old in listening to us when we tell her she can only have one or two treats a day. And the best part of it is that she’s willing to share, much to our delight! 😉
Mio had a fun-filled Sunday afternoon as we took her out for her first real trick-or-treating experience! We hadn’t introduced trick-or-treating to her the last two years, because we figured she was too young for candy, but now she’s definitely at an age where she can understand and appreciate the concept and of course the treats! A growing trend at community centers and churches in recent years is trunk-or-treat — it provides a safe and fun alternative to the tradition of going to door-to-door asking for candy. Volunteers gather in parking lots, their car trunks open and decked out in decorations and sometimes games, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It’s also an easier option than the traditional walking door-to-door for younger kids (as they tend to easily get tired) because they can still get plenty of candy without having to travel as much. Mio’s preschool had a Trunk-or-Treat event which we went to first, and then we continued onto Vienna Baptist Church, which probably hosts the largest Trunk-or-Treat in the local community.
Trunk or Treat at Mio’s preschool.
She got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly!
Mio making her way around the preschool parking lot.
Playing a game to win a treat!
The second Trunk-or-Treat event we went to had an accompanying fall festival for kids, with lots of games, activities, crafts, and face painting that they could partake in before they went trick-or-treating around the parking lot.
Mio throwing her fishing line over to get some candy.
She got some fruit snacks!
Getting her face painted.
The finished facepaint: an apple to go with her Snow White costume!
Time for Trunk-or-Treat, round two! There were about 30 cars to collect candy from.
Some of the decorations were pretty elaborate…
We ran into Mio’s friend Junna-chan (in the penguin costume) there, too!
Mio helping herself to candy. She made sure to say “thank you” at every station!
A vintage Ford Model A vehicle that was also at the event! Dan had a fun time talking to the owner about it.
A happy Snow White with her Daddy! Her bucket of candy was so full by the end of the afternoon that she was having a hard time carrying it.
Mio had a blast trick-or-treating for the first time, and she kept saying “Hooray! Candy!” and examining her loot in the car ride home. Mama and Daddy have to be careful in making sure the candy is rationed and she doesn’t eat too much at once. 😉
