Pre-Halloween

Before the pre-Halloween post, I'd like to note that the dodge ball Hanes commercial that's currently on t.v. made me think about blogging. Why? Because Planet Dan frequently blogs about his experiences on the Crazy Cooters kick ball team and kick ball and dodge ball are close enough in my mind that now all I can picture when I read his blog is a bunch of locals playing kick ball in their underwear. And then I realize that if it was warm enough out, and based on Dan's blogging history, he might just do that.

The fact that the person who posted the video doesn't know the difference between basketball and dodge ball is funny. I realize they might be from abroad - but I could tell you the difference between most sports or, if I couldn't, I'd at least blog "playing a game" in a generic manner instead of displaying I didn't know basketball wasn't played with rubber court balls (point: if it's basketball, then why does the NBA hire all those 7' tall players when the goal seems not to get hit with the ball?)

I also wondered this week why the Saxaboom video on YouTube with Eryn playing her Saxaboom was so popular. It's racking up several hundred hits. It occured to me that typing "saxaboom" into YouTube might reveal the reason. It was something of a surprise to see all sorts of saxaboom videos, including Jack Black and Tenacious D getting down on a Saxaboom (Eryn could be in their band...they have a similar playing style). It was strange that I'd just forwarded footage from what seems to be this same concert to Mean Mr. Mustard this week, except it was "gollum" singing with Tenacious D.

So...pre-Halloween. Grandma Ellen's costume wasn't here on Thursday when Eryn had to go to her Halloween party at day care, so Pooteewheet bought her an orange shirt that said "Boo!" instead and some Halloween socks. She's been wearing the outfit for three days now. Pooteewheet had to wash it overnight just to make sure it was available and clean. I was feeling ill, so I didn't get to go (pretty sure I caught something at work. There were a few sick individuals in my space earlier in the week), but Eryn apparently had a blast.


This was one of the fathers that showed up. He actually lives very close to me. Pooteewheet says he takes two days off of work every Halloween. One day to set up his haunted house in the garage. One day to take down the haunted house. Apparently his outfit was a hit with the kids who were fascinated, but wouldn't really get within ten feet of him. On the trip back from Conner's birthday party today, we used him as an explanation of why Eryn did not want to go on a haunted trail. We noted that individuals like Mr. Scary don't loiter ten feet away for inspection at most haunted trails/houses, but instead pop out of nowhere and grab you. Eryn wasn't entirely convinced this was a problem, but she was really giving the idea the consideration it deserved rather than just insisting she needed to go. We're trying to keep her from being freaked out about haunted houses when she's older, like my sister, who at a very young age watched me get abducted by haunted house monsters (turns out they were Boy Scouts from St. Michael who knew me) and hasn't been quite the same since.


The games seemed fun. Eryn played a bit of throw the beanbag at the plastic pumpkin heads (like in pagan days of yore/gore).


And swung at the pinata (like in Mexican days of yore/gore). Pooteewheet says Eryn was so excited about getting her hands on a Tootsie Roll that she immediately began eating it and didn't grab any other candy. I hope that zone carries over to sports and academics some day.


Leftovers: this is a video for my parents of Eryn at the aiport in Tucson right after the sugar-caffinated confection my mother bought for her (which was topped off with some of my caffinated coffee to make the ice melt). I'm surprised she wasn't a bit more squirrley on the airplane.