Fun with the Fam

Before I get to Halloween...

A couple weeks ago our family did all kinds of fun things together!  Well, at least we did two kinds of fun things together. :-) Monday  (Oct. 17) for Family Home Evening we packed a picnic lunch and hiked up to Ensign Peak.  It is a super-easy trail, except for being super steep.  My little kids were running and bounding up the trail, and Bruce and I were lagging along behind, gasping for breath.  The view from the top is incredible—you can see pretty much all of the Salt Lake Valley, and the leaves in the mountains are changing colors so it's really pretty right now.  Of course some of us can't stand near the edge—even though there's a rail all around it, and if you did fall off you'd probably just roll down a steepish, but not super-dangerous (unless you count little rocks and shrubberies), incline.  Some people also can't look in the direction of our children standing near the edge without getting a creepy, jittery feeling jumping through our skin.  But we try to keep that to ourselves and just tell everyone how cool it is—because it is. 

Bruce and me, looking our age
on top of Ensign Peak

After we hiked back down we drove into town (about 3 minutes—Ensign Peak is right behind the Capitol building) and looked for a nice place to eat our picnic dinner.  We intended to eat out on the Main Street Plaza, where they usually have some tables and chairs, but there was nothing there for us.  So we hiked around to the next block and found some tables and had our dinner.  It was already getting a little dark, and it was cold, so we ate fast!  Then we crossed the street to Temple Square and said hello to the horses and their carriage drivers.  They offered to take us on a 20-minute drive for only $20 per couple.  Hm.  $100 for the whole family?  Not tonight.  (Although it would be so cool to have them drive us to the ballet, or to dinner or something, sometime!)

Lindsey, Me and Ryan

Then we went to the church history museum and saw a display of children's artwork.  It was a pretty fun night. :-)

Saturday night we went back to Temple Square to see the orchestra perform their Autumn Concert.  They played Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach and Mahler.  The kids were very well behaved—they have very good concert manners, and the music was excellent!  I particulary liked the Bach piece—a movement from St. Matthew's Passion, and the kids all really enjoyed the Mahler (kind of opposite ends of the scale—no pun intended    :-)  ).  On the way home we stopped and bought ice cream to top off the evening. 

Now for the Halloween stuff...

I don't really care all that much for Halloween.  Dressing up is fun, but I don't know why it's limited to such a stupid holiday whose only existence is so stores can sell lots more candy.  I think a New Year's masquerade sounds much more classy. But I do like any excuse to play with my food, so when I came across these ideas and I realized I would have no classes on Halloween and my Entheos kids were going to be out of school, it seemed as the planets had aligned. :-)  Each month I make a dinner menu that I post on my fridge (whether I conscientiously stick to the menu is another story); this is what I wrote for the October 31 menu:

Eyeballs, Slime, Spiders, Snake, Worms, Chips & Mashed Guts

Mmmm, worms!

The first item of business was to make the worms; I found the recipe online last week and couldn't resist.  I wanted to make these as a total surprise, so I started them early Sunday morning and finished early on Monday.  It was not a total surprise because all of my older kids woke up way too early on both those days, so I recruited them to help prepare the worms. Even though they knew what was in them, they weren't too keen to eat them—that just shows what those child experts know about getting your kids to eat!  (I'll post the recipe on my cookbook blog later.)

Scott, Lindsey and Rachel eat worms
while Emma gags herself in the background

Kaylie mixes a cake

When everyone was up and had breakfasted on Monday I put the kids (read: the little girls, who wanted to help cook) to work.  First we did the spider cupcakes: devil's food cupcakes, with raspberry filling (spider blood), iced with black frosting and covered in black sprinkles—with licorice string legs.  If I ever made these again I would not put black coloring in the icing—it gave a terrible flavor to my fabulous buttercream frosting! 



frosting and decorating the spiders



eyeball surgery

Then I worked on the eyeballs (deviled eggs).
The slime punch is our only annual Halloween tradition, but this year I mixed it ahead of time (an "Aha!" moment) so we only had to add the soda, sherbet and dry ice at the last minute.  I bought black and orange tortilla chips, and Harmon's guacamole (expensive, but delicious!) and made fresh salsa for the "mashed guts."  The six-foot long snake was the last dish to be prepared—while the kids went trick-or-treating with their cousins—so we could eat it warm.

Brandon, disguised as himself

into the jaws of Frankenstein...
...anything for candy!

Poison Ivy, a kitty, Puss in Boots, and Harley Quinn

Here's what our dinner looked like:

It was ooky to have such a ridiculous meal, but I probably wouldn't do it all again.  Although snake was popular, today I still have a plate of worms in my fridge and a tray of spiders on my counter today.  The chips and "mashed guts" I'd definitely have again, I'd do the snake again, and we'll always use Halloween as an excuse for the slime punch.  Still, it was an impressive spread, and the most important thing is we had fun!  Yay!