CANDYLAND!!

For the past eight years Alpha Chi has put on an event called Candyland on Halloween night. Basically, it is an outreach to the La Mirada community providing a safe and free place to go on Halloween night to trick-or-treat, play games, etc. And...we made it happen once again this year! And it was a GREAT success!

To make the day happen it takes about a month of planning by the RAs & RDs (Alyssa & I). And about a week before the event the women of Alpha begin to get involved as well. We transform the building into the boardgame of Candyland with each floor decorated to represent a different character of the boardgame. Do YOU remember the characters on the game? Well, if not let me give you a refresher...Mr. Mint, Queen Frostine, Princess Lolly, Grandma Nut, Gloppy & Jolly. To encourage this decorating to happen we have a door decorating contest where residence decorate their door according to their theme and then the night of Candyland they sit outside their doors and hand out candy to all the trick or treaters. We also turn our lobby into game central where kids come, play and win prizes. We also have the Candyland movie playing outside on a large screen and a bounce house too. It is quite a production and I have to say that I am SUPER proud of the women this year for putting on such a great event.


We counted 544 kids come through the doors that night...which isn't including parents! It was BUSY night!


The entire Alpha West & Alpha East RA Staff all dressed up as Where's Waldo!


Here are a few pics to give you an idea:

The Nephews stay with the Aunties

A while back Justine and I thought it would be real fun to have Joel and Seth come
spend the weekend with us. And so the weekend of October 17th they came to stay while Josh, Emily and "Babbey" (as Seth would say) went to Laguna for the weekend.

Here are a few snapshots of the adventures Justine, Beth and I had with the boys.







Pancakes and banana for breakfast!









































At the field for my football game.




Joel teaching Seth how to do push-ups. Stinkin cute!!








Seth wants to be just like his brother.













After my football game we took the boys to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. However, it isn't just any pumpkin patch, its Tanaka Farms in Irvine where you actually pick your pumpkin from the field and they also have a tractor ride around the farm, a pumpkin cannon, a petting zoo, games, and more. We didn't take part in all the options but had a great time.






Riding the tractor around the farm.









































The farm...and the pumpkin cannon. Seriously, the pumpkins fly! It was awesome!






























Picking out our pumpkins...








As you can see Joel had a good time and picked out a great little pumpkin.


















Now Seth...he tended to like the "special" pumpkins that most other people would never dream of picking out. So, we affirmed him in his sensitivity and compassion and then tried to persuade him to pick out one that wasn't so gooshy. :)












And there was nap time...







































And game time...











































And alphabet spaghetti dinner time...




















After the boys went to bed, Justine, Beth & I carved our pumpkins...






































And as we got more and more tired we became a little delirious...

















The next morning Joel & Seth carved their pumpkins (with help of course)...




























and then there were four!

Overall it was a really fun weekend having the boys here! I would do it again in a heartbeat, although I was exhausted after they left. But, it was all worth it!