Pre-Halloween Haps

Given the weather on the "real" Halloween, October 31, was a HORRENDOUS Elsa-inspired mess, I'm thrilled we got it together (amazingly) and participated in the Milford Main Street trick-or-treat. 

Though Will's costume wasn't quite as elaborate as years past (here and here), he still got in the spirit, with a little help from Disney on Ice and the cotton candy tchotchke. 

Anna's marvelous togs were provided by Gramma Betty.

Since our real Sven is dog reindeer aggressive, Olaf has to pull the sled.

Thankfully he had some grog in this to-go cup.

And then, my sister wife, Jaclyn, nestor Will, and I took on the grand event.

Ryan's costume was eerily familiar.

 Jack was awarded best supporting role as Farmer.

And once again, we marched down Main and slipped into line at random intervals.

It was fun(ny).

Lucy Anna did some walking crawling.

And, three members of the OG represented.

Mason, Maizey and Jack.

Once she tired of walkcrawling, 

Lu took it all in from the sled.

And Elsa sang a few bars,

though luckily her powers hadn't reached full potential .

After a jaunt to the YMCA, Elsa and Farmer gave Olaf a break 

and ferried Anna home.

Happy Halloween indeed.

(And that day I gave thanks for to-go cups, like-minded neighbors, a husband with a sense of humor, unseasonably warm autumn weather, and hot-n-ready pizzas.)

Gobblers and Ho Ho Hos

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the Milford Christmas Parade, and this year marked the third annual Gobbler Gallop 4-miler. For the Spurgeon household, it was our third  MCP, Maizey's second MCP, and Maizey and Will's first Gallop.

 It was Maizey's first race, so she was slightly dubious. 

But warmed up to the idea after a Santa Dada pep talk.

Lucy and I abstained.

On your marks. 

Get set.

GO!

This was moments before Will hollered to me: "The tires on this thing are completely flat!" Love him, but imagine my holiday joy when I was able to respond, "Not my problem!"

And 38 minutes later
(he blames the tires - I blame the pre- and post-partum supportive bowls of ice cream)...

Finished!
All jokes aside, I do see more races in the Spurgeon Family future.

After the race we went to meet up with our fave parade partner.

Jack. Future Milford Mayor.

Two years ago...

 And today...

 How fast time goes.

But the cluster $%& that is our parade group never changes.

Only compounded by the parade line-up occurring on our street.

 Come on everybody!

 Hustle. Hustle.

Stroller brigade.

Despite Maizey's recent obsession with The Grinch and the Whos, 

she didn't warm up to their human counterparts.

Can't really blame the girl though. 

As they were more Edward Scissorhands than Cindy Lou.

Good thing Milford has these two spunky gals,

keeping the Girl Scouts from Huron Valley extinction. 

Happily, unlike the memorial parade,

there was candy.

 costumed weiner dogs,

Jaclyn's family,

Bundled Lucy,

And Santa.
It was a fab kick-off to the holiday season.

P.S. As an aside, Will and I experienced our first "Where's my kid?" We were settling into our parade spot when I looked over at Will, expecting to see Maizey nearby. She wasn't. I hollered to him, "Where's Maizey?" He got a confused/panicked look on his face. We started scanning the crowd, looking for a purple-clad little person. Shouldn't be hard to find. But, she was. Hard to find. We couldn't find her. For about 2 minutes, with my heart beating increasingly faster, we searched the crowd for her. Calling her name. One of our tallish fellow parade goers spotted her about half a block away, alone, looking scared and lost. The emotion I felt when I saw her was unlike anything I'd experienced before. As cousin Molly said, "Parenting. Not for the faint of heart."