Happy Halloween 2011

Neewollah 2011

This town puts on quite the party.  If you remember from last year, we had some friends visit to share in our first Neewollah experience.  This year we were lucky enough to have visitors again.  Grandma Joyce, Bailey, and Skyler all got some good deals on flights that happened to coincide with all the festivities.

The highlight of Neewollah is the food, unfortunately.  Vendors from all over line the main street downtown to serve up their greasy, fried, too-expensive, but oh-so-tasty food!  The smell of the town for 4 days straight is enough to bring your cholesterol levels up.  I save my calories all year long for these few days!  At the Neewollah headquarters here in town, they sell a shirt will a checklist of all the classic foods that are sold.  Here are a couple of pictures of some of the food that we devoured.  I think between all of us, we pretty much had it all.

Bailey was the first to try the deep fried Snickers.  If I hadn't already be overly stuffed, it would have tasted so much better.  It was surprisingly delicious.  It had a "s'mores" flavor to it, but it definitely cannot be considered a light snack.  Here is a picture of Bailey and Grandma Joyce watching her fried snickers be prepared.  They were captivated!

Look at that menu of just ONE of the vendors!

(not pictured: Jaffle, Corn Dog, Indian fry-bread, Peach Cobbler, and Homemade Rootbeer)

The girls had a lot of fun choosing a couple of rides and games to play at the carnival.  Only a couple though.  I wasn't in the mood to go bankrupt because I wanted to purchase outrageously priced tickets for the kiddos.

Neewollah Kiddie Parade 2011

The kid's parade is for any kid in town to participate in.  They are separated into age groups, from infants to toddlers, all the way to 5th grade (I think). Most of the kids just walk, luckily for mine though, Emily's preschool always has a float that allows the students and any of their siblings to ride on.  They have a lot of fun doing this each year, especially when it means they get more chances to wear their Halloween costume.

Here is Gracey as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz"

Emily is Little Red RidingHood, particularly Little Red from the movie "Hoodwinked!" (the boy digging for gold is Emily's best buddy Josh.)

The kids riding the float and having a great time!

Hula

Gracey and Emily joined a Hula group at the beginning of October and already have a performance under their grass belts!  Talk about adorable.  I die a little every time they dance the hula, it is the cutest thing ever!

They performed at the Neewollah bandstand!  Gracey, Emily, and their friend, Elizabeth performed the Hookey Lau all by themselves and really stole the show.  They were quite the performers.  I can't wait to get the video imported onto the computer so that everyone can see!

Prayers for a squirrel

This evening as we were driving home, Gracey and Emily were telling me about a dead squirrel that was in the middle of the road just a couple of houses down from us.  Roadkill in this area is absolutely common.  Not a day goes by that I don't pass, or nearly kill with my own car, a squirrel, armadillo, or racoon.  Upon noticing this squirrel, they hopped off of their bikes to examine it a little further.  Gracey said that it had a couple of acorns surrounding it so she assumed that it was taking the acorns home to eat.  She then said the squirrel was cute even though one of it's eyes was bulging out.

Emily also described the scene as well, retelling me about the eyeball and the acorns.  Then to my suprise, she said, "Then we kneeled down a said a prayer for the squirrel."

I was taken by complete surprise.  I asked, "You knelt down in the middle of the road and said a prayer the squirrel?" 

Emily and Gracey both said "Yep!"

Of course I think that is so super sweet of my girls.  It shows their gentle hearts, kind spirits, and strong love they have for animals.  However, if I would have actually seen my two kids, or any kid for that matter, kneeling in the middle of the road praying over some roadkill, I would be the one they would be praying for next...simply because I would DIE laughing! 

This simple story really made my night.  I wish I could have seen them out there, or better yet, heard what was said in this particular prayer for the squirrel.

I love my girls!!

POST EDIT:  Just to be clear, I did not laugh or make fun of the girls for praying for the squirrel, my laughter was all in my head.  I am actually quite happy that they chose to do so.  We have been praying as a family lot this week for another family that we know that tragically lost a loved one.  I am grateful that they are learning the importance of praying, even if it over a dead squirrel.