Pumpkin Oranges

There were a billion things I should have been doing... but I had an epiphany.  :)

I had this great idea to take oranges as snacks for the boys' soccer team game this weekend.  I thought I might try my hand with a sharpie and see if I could turn them into little pumpkins since it is officially fall, and Halloween is just right around the corner.  That is until I remembered that I can't draw.  At all.  Seriously - I am banned from pictionary.  :)

So I picked up some oranges and drew 4 really pitiful jack-o-lantern faces on one I took to work for lunch as practice.  I then proceeded to peel the orange to eat it and was immediately covered in sharpie.  Apparently if you need to get sharpie stains out of anything you should try juice from fresh oranges.  :) 

I had all but given up on the idea when it hit me that I should try some sort of sticker.  Luckily I found a whole package of address label stickers and started drawing, cutting, and coloring with a sharpie.  The first one I made looked a little evil (right middle on the back row).  But as I tried different eyes, mouths, teeth, moustaches, etc. they all took on their own personalities.   I had a blast, and it became a challenge to create a whole collection of different characters.  Kevin stopped by a time or two to mock the fact that it was almost midnight and I was sitting in the kitchen making pumpkin oranges instead of being like any other "normal" person and just throwing the plain oranges in a bag and calling it done. 

Since Kevin and the boys had helped themselves to some of the oranges I had to run by the store early and pick up a few more oranges to make sure I would have enough for everyone.  I had planned to just scatter the extras in with the decorated ones - the early bird get the worm or you get what you get,  but I couldn't help myself.  I had to decorate the baby ones, too.

As soon as the boys saw them they began picking out their favorites and calling dibbs.

I decided I had better put them up before they decided to help themselves to any more before the game.  I started looking for a bowl to put them all in when I saw one of my big tupperware bowls that would be perfect to show them off.  So I arranged the the oranges around the outside facing out and then stuffed the fruit by the foot (or paper chewies as the boys like to call them) packages in the middle.  That's what the slivers of metallic green that you can see are.

When it was all said and done I was exceedingly proud of my little creations.  So much so that I feel fairly certain that some similar ones may be making an appearance at the school Halloween party, too.  Shhhh!  Don't tell!

And speaking of the soccer game, Connor enthusiastically chased the ball around and even managed to send it in the right direction and Ryan scored his first ever goal - our only one of the game!  He did a great job several times on some fast breaks down the field.  He's really turning out to be a pretty good little soccer player.  He's pretty agressive.  He locks on the ball, kicks it and runs as fast as his little feet will take him.  Over, and over, and over again.  He's like the energizer bunny.  He's not even worn out after running up and down the field all game long.  He still wants to play with us "just a little more" after the game is over.

SeaWorld Halloween

The other big surprise was just how much Halloween theming and special events they had planned for their Halloween celebration.

There were plenty of kid friendly events like trick or treating -

Thoughout the park there were also a number of skeleton vignettes and skeletons worked into the typical attractions like the wetsuit the divers wore, and the skull and crossbones sitting in the aquarium tanks.

There was also an interesting section of the park filled with a variety of acts from witch doctors, to snake charmers.

We stopped by the Count's Un-Haunted Castle -

The boys were particularly intersted in the talking television.  The pumpkin head asked their name and talked to them for several minutes.

We manged to get the boys to "pose" by the Count at each phase by  telling them that we had to measure them to see if they were tall enough to go on.  They were eager to see if they passed the height requirement.  Luckily they were tall enough for every part though they weren't so lucky on the bigger roller coasters, and the biggest disappointment the river ride Rio Loco.

Some of the scarier attractions offered a family friendly hour - like Jack's Frighmare Forest.

It was definately not for the faint of heart.  Or the clausterphobic as the first building you had to squeeze your way through two air pillows to pop out the other side.  You then wandered from one black building to the next past all manner of creatures along the way.

Connor wasn't the least bit scared by creepy critters.  He even reached out and touched several of them.

Ryan on the other hand was NOT a fan of any of the darker places.

While I would have loved to have come back at night to see the grove of glow in the dark pumpkins I am not sure I would have enjoyed seeing what else lurked in Jack's forest in the middle of the night.

Because the darker it got the more the creepy creatures ventured out.

Though some were scarier than others.

The boys particularly enjoyed the signing skeletons and their rendition of a song similiar to the 12 Days of Christmas.

The skeleton vignettes were well lit at night really making them stand out.

The other thing that really stood out was the Monster Stomp show.  We sat towards the back at the edge in the event that we needed to sneak out as I wasn't sure how appropriate it would be for 3 year olds.

Luckily the boys didn't pay terribly much attention to the plot and simply enjoyed the music, dancing, and brightly colored costumes.

I asked the boys several times if they wanted to leave, and they adamantly insisted on staying.

The drum part was one of their favorites.

Though without a doubt my favorite was the glow in the dark skeletons.

After the Monster Stop show we caught a small part of the Grave Diggers Funeral Procession before heading back to the hotel to put the boys to bed after a long day spent enjoying all the Halloween activities the park had to offer.