Happy Halloween!

With visions of candy corn dancing in his head, my son had a hard time getting to sleep tonight. He gets excited about all the big holidays, but Halloween is definitely his favorite (that's him above in 2001). This weekend we decked out the house with cobwebs, spiders, bones, skulls, and a sound-activated dancing ghost. Today we carved pumpkins and decided on costumes. Then, my son and I took off down the road to the historic mining town of Wallace, Idaho, to experience the Doom of Muldoon at the Sierra Silver Mine.



I love haunted houses, but there's nothing quite like a haunted mine. A dark, dank, claustrophobic place, made even creepier by ghostly decor and actors playing the roles of doomed miners. There were a couple of times when I jumped back and hit my head on the low ceiling (thank goodness for the safety helmets). My son loved it, and the sidetrip afterward to the local cemetery.

Monday we'll be at his school to watch the parade of costumes. That's always fun, until you see the same Scream Mask thirty-seven times. After school we'll probably head to the mall to make the rounds of the stores, and then back home to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood. Yes, we let our kids go door-to-door, with us watching them. And there's nothing wrong with parents accompanying their young kids on Halloween night, no matter what some child-less reporter might say.

I hope you all have a safe and spooky Halloween!