Straight from Green Gables....

I frequently wonder if Saryn is perhaps Anne Shirley reincarnated.
One example would be as we drive to Cello lessons.

Almost every time we drive, as we turn onto an older street with many beautiful older trees, Saryn says:

"Mom, what is THIS street called?"

"76th Avenue"

"No, it's Raspberry Forest!!"

Of course it is.....



PS - First night in over 6 weeks without interruption = wonderful!

Traditions

Growing up, we always had many traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I LOVE those traditions and wouldn't trade them for the world. I am so excited to do them again year after year. This year, I've been looking at my advent calendar with mixed emotions.


I LOVE it. It's another tradition that my family has. My Granny has now made one for every grandchild of hers and we all get to carry it on. There is a pocket for every day from Dec 1-24 and in it is a scripture to read, a figure from the nativity to put on the scene above and a card with an activity on it to do that day. It is the PERFECT way to have a great, organized December with many fun activities. It can be big or small or something completely silly. We all took a turn opening them daily and loved creating the nativity scene.

I'm having a hard time with it this year, however, because I have sat down about 5 times to figure out what activities I can put in there and I can't come up with ANYTHING. My brain is gone.

What are things to do in December with 4 smallish children in Edmonton and/or Calgary?
What are things that we should make a Christmas/December tradition for our family?
What things has YOUR family done that you love and would never change?

I figure that right now is the time to make Cahoon Family Traditions that our kids will always remember. Do YOU have any suggestions? I am at a complete and total loss... I don't want my kids to grow up without any traditions because they have a brain dead Mom.

PLEASE HELP ME!!

Kienna Prays for Me

This is the second time this week that Kienna has included me in her prayers.

"Please help Mom get a good sleep tonight!"

Apparently she knew how much I needed some good sleep. If only she realized that it was her waking up every 45 minutes that was making it hard.

"Please help mom get better and better at cooking....even though she's already the best!"

I'm glad someone likes my cooking, even if it IS warming up a can of tomato soup!

Privatizing!

So, I had taken my blog off of the Private setting. I want to go back to it. If you have a desire to keep reading my blog, please let me know by leaving your email address!! Thanks!

Random....

Saryn said to me as we were walking outside to go to church:

"Mom, I actually like those shoes....
(thinking) not that much, but a little bit!"

As she struggled to get on her pants:

Ugh....this is like 20 minutes!


Jaymeson is now full on walking!! He still crawls, but he's walking at least half of the time. He pivots, he walks in circles, he stands up while in the middle of the floor....he's SUCH a big boy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This video was taken a week ago, so he's walking even more solidly now!

With Kienna having so many popsicles around, Jaymeson had one. His very first popsicle. He really enjoyed it, except that he never held it by the stick, always the popsicle. His hands got really cold, but he was SO SO SO cute!

My dream of my kids having a string quartet might be filled. Kaia plays violin, Kienna plays Cello, Saryn wants to play violin and Jaymeson already seems to have an interest. I think I might push Viola on him... it's a big violin - very manly, right?

Even though Kienna's appetite hasn't been 100%, the rest of us have been eating. Kaia has been a super SUPER help through this all. She has been helping make food, feed Jaymeson, and many other things when I am busy helping Kienna. She also helped me make cookies. She helps me double recipes while we do it too. We get bonding time, plus work on her math at the same time. Jaymeson loved the cookies too!


Jaymeson has loved our Little People Nativity set. He spends many moments throughout the day playing with it. He even has started doing voices for the pieces. It makes me laugh. He's SO cute!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

His other favorite toy is the pot lids. Not MY favorite, but his. He bangs them together like cymbals. He pulls those out probably about 100 times a day, but it makes him happy....so it's all good.


This isn't the best picture to show you, but Kaia got glasses. She's SO excited about them. She was saying that her eyes were so sore when she read and now she can read for hours and hours (and she would if there was time). I think she looks awfully sophisticated for a 6 year old!


Well, I think that's about everything we have been doing this past couple weeks. Just keeping busy and trying to keep healthy and out of trouble! So far, so good...

Tonsils and Adenoids and Ear Tubes.....oh my!

Well, I have a blog post all ready with all the details of Kienna's surgery, but I'm SO sick of complaining and SO sick of worrying that I really don't feel like posting another long narrative of it all. I do, however, want to have it all written down so that I can have it in our family history. I promise, however, that there will be lots of pictures and that I will no longer complain when children are in good health. I realize that my kids have really had it quite easy in the health department. Tonsils and Adenoids are pretty run of the mill, and I feel extraordinarily blessed because of that. That being said, here is my previously written blog:

Boy, has it ever been a long week. My poor little Kienna had her tonsils, adenoids and ear tubes all removed. I feel so blessed with how peaceful I felt during the surgery and with how happy and cheerful she was right afterwards. She actually tried to run from the car into the house when we got home from the hospital.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

The night before surgery, Kienna ran upstairs with a little flower. She was finally feeling better after swine flu and ear infections had left her body. She held the flower out to me and said,

"Mom, this is for you... Thank you for all the times that you yelled at me!" Then whispering she said, "It's actually because you love me, but that's just not as funny...."

Jarett had watched Barbie Rapunzel with her that day and as Rapunzel and the Prince get married, Kienna observed, "As if you would ever invite a dragon to your wedding!" You know, because that is the least realistic part of the movie.....

Anyway, she was finally feeling good and being her normal funny happy self. That night she went to sleep and got ready to go to the hospital in the morning. She was so good and patient about not being able to eat or anything.

We went back to get into surgical clothes around 9:30 and then asked to wait for about an hour or so until they were ready to take us back. She looked so cute in her surgical clothes.

We were taken back around 10:30 to talk to the anesthesiologist and then be ushered back for surgery. The anesthesiologist found out about our families history of Malignant Hyperthermia and postponed the surgery while he cleaned out a machine so that it didn't have anything in it that would cause a reaction. We waited for another hour and a half while they took the boy behind us for his tonsils first. She was SO good and patient. We read Farmer Boy (of the Little House on the Prairie series) while we waited and had some awesome bonding time. Kienna looked out of the window a lot, too. It was neat to see all the things that happen in a hospital.

For any of you who have had your child knocked out while in your arms, you'll know what a weird sensation that is. She was on my lap while they put the IV in behind my back. He was talking to her about giraffes and how they have blue tongues that can lick their ears. She was trying to lick her own ears when he suddenly said, "1....2.... and 3" and then she fell forward, completely limp. So crazy how quickly it happens and how effective medicine is. They then ushered me out of the room saying to come back in about 45 minutes. That was SUCH a strange and helpless feeling. My little baby girl on the bed, completely asleep - and I have to leave and come back when she wakes up with no tonsils.

I grabbed a quick lunch and read a book while I waited. I couldn't believe the peace I felt. I guess that I knew she was in good hands, but I was much more nervous the night before than I was during the surgery. The spirit must have been comforting me. I just couldn't focus on the surgery and it was very helpful. After 45 minutes, I was back and waited for another 45 minutes before they said I could come back. That scared me. What took an hour and a half in surgery? I found out afterwards that her adenoids were so big that they had to take those out as well (they had told me this was a possibility before....they didn't just do it without telling me). Then they waited for her to wake up before calling me back. She was SO sweet. Totally half asleep and swollen, but so sweet.

We read some more and played Pass the Pigs. She had about 8 popsicles and 4 glasses of gingerale and apple juice. She was doing GREAT! After the surgeon came and talked to me, our three hours had passed and they said we could go. Kienna was so excited to ride in a wheelchair. As I pushed her along, she started singing, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!" I thought this was going to be so much easier than everyone had prepped me for. She was already so happy!



This is Kienna playing with her "humidifier" it was a tube with a fan and water at the base of it. She loved to play with it and was putting it in her mouth and everything. It was hilarious.

She was SO excited to be in a wheelchair.

I was warned that the pain would increase, along with her nausea when the anesthesia wore off... This was not an understatement. She was up crying all night and no combination of Tylenol, Motrin and Codeine would cut the pain. She began throwing up on Wednesday night and then it became more and more frequent as the week continued. On Wednesday night, as she was crying in pain she said,
"Mom, you know what?
"What?"
"If you wanted to make chicken pies, you shouldn't use a chicken that's wearing a hat. Then it would be Chicken Hat Pies!"
(we may have been watching Chicken Run that day)
I laughed so hard, what a sweetie to be thinking such funny things while it hurts to even talk.

Her set-up at home. She would just stay on the couch all day.

This is the chart that she points to in order to tell me how much she hurts. I give her medicine accordingly. Now when I ask her how she's feeling, she says that she can't tell me until I bring her the chart.

As the week continued, her ears began to ache, her throat became more and more swollen and she began to refuse to drink ANYTHING. She quickly became dehydrated with the vomiting and not drinking. She started to have blood come up when she threw up and I began to get scared. Saturday morning I really noticed things getting worse.

Right before heading to the ER. She was SO sick and had lost about 5 pounds in 5 days.

To the Emergency Room we head..... I talked to Health Link before I went and they made me more determined that I needed to go. Kienna hadn't gone to the bathroom at all for over 24 hours and apparently that's NOT good. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and she began to drink some water. She also went to the bathroom by the end of it and so we headed home with some relief. The second we walked in the door, she saw some leftover pizza and asked to have a piece. Not the greatest thing to start eating again, so we went to apple sauce, popsicles and other such things. She has been eating well since, just no hard food (crackers etc.) yet.

Kienna has an awesome primary teacher who brought her carnations, popsicles and a Princess Magazine. On Sunday, she had the whole class draw pictures and send them to her. She was smiling so big as she looked through them. Thanks Brandy. You're such an awesome teacher!

Sunday night was horrible. She was up crying about her ears every 45 minutes and Jarett ended up forfeiting his side of the bed so that she would be able to snuggle with me and sleep (hopefully) a little bit better. It worked. She slept for the last few hours much more peaceably.

Monday we went to the pediatrician (our weekly visit to Dr Davidson) and he discovered that the antibiotic that they gave us at the hospital wasn't nearly strong enough for her. He supplemented it with more Amoxicillin with additional antibiotic in it so that it would not allow her to build a resistance to it.

That's pretty much where we are. Last night and this morning, she has still be crying about her ear. The hot water bottle has been her best friend and I have her leaning against many pillows to raise her head, which seems to have helped too. She is really a tough girl. She has been SO sweet through it all. When I snuggle with her after she asks me, she says, "See, this is why you're the best mom ever." She has said something like this almost every hour since Tuesday. "Mom, you're the best of the best moms" was one of my favorites! She seems to say this even more when she has the codeine (oh, if only this wasn't a medicine, I would be tempted to give this to her daily - she becomes so sweet and affectionate). She even told me (after watching Barbie in the Nutcracker) that I'm like the Sugar Plum Princess because I'm kind, clever and brave. I think she's thinking of herself. She has been so brave and kind and good through this whole process.

Sleeping on the kitchen table bench. She has been so exhausted!

I'm SO proud of her. She is such a strong little girl. She has cried so much and been so uncomfortable, but she's still so sweet and always thinking of others. She is SUCH a dear little girl! I'm so glad that this is pretty much behind us.

Here's to a Doctor free December!

A Day in the Life of Saryn...

To fully understand the Monkey that is Saryn, I thought I'd observe her for a few days and write down pretty much everything she did. I started on Thursday, which is when I wrote the most down. Over the next couple days I added a few things that are more typical of her and some funny things she said. For sake of simplicity, we're just going to say that all of this happened in one day....Nov 5. (Everything I write is just about Saryn. Please don't think I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs while I watched her do this. I was with other kids, or cleaning, or actually even sewing through this all)

Now, before I have you read this, you need to get in the right frame of mind. Picture, if you will, Saryn:


She is my little monkey. She does not walk like a normal person, she prances. She does not merely stand, she has her hands on her hips, or in some sort of ballet position. She does not simply talk, she demands or she sweet talks. She is FULL of personality, emotion, energy and incredible amounts of FUN. She loves everything Princess and beautiful. I have found that there's no middle ground for Saryn. She is like the girl with the curl, for when she is good, she is VERY VERY good, but when she is bad, she is HORRID!

So, please imagine, my little prancing princess in all her glory waking up on the morning of Thursday, November 5th (ish).

It's approximately 7:30, Saryn walks in the master bedroom, looks at herself modeling in the mirror approvingly, holds out her nightie and sways back and forth. She does a quick pirouette, and then joins me in bed for a good snuggle. If I'm already up for the day, Saryn just goes downstairs and skips this step.

After a good snuggle, Saryn goes downstairs and begins to sing "Mom, could you please put on Fantasia" over and over again. (All of her little songs are 'originals' and are very rarely the same tune. There are occasions, however, that she does use a song from a musical etc. where she just changes the words.) After I have told her that we can't watch a movie, we have to get ready for school/cello lessons, Saryn tells me, "I'll NEVER!" (This is her most common threat. She will NEVER do what I ask or what is required of her. I have found that if she is ignored when she says that she very quickly does do what you have asked.) So, I walk upstairs and Saryn yells, "You get back down here right now!!" That doesn't fly well, but eventually, Saryn comes upstairs gets dressed and gets her hair done. Afterwards, she says, "I just need to see how beautiful I look." Once again, she stops in front of the mirror in my room and gives herself approving looks (her self-esteem is not a worry of mine).

On Friday, I told her to take off her Little Mermaid nightie and then come downstairs because I had her clothes downstairs with me. She gasped and then said, "But then I'll be HUMAN!"

After breakfast and everything, everyone gets their coats and shoes on after Kaia has gone to school. Saryn begins singing, "Let's go to Cello Lessons" (from Annie). As the family heads out the door to go to cello lessons, Saryn suddenly and desperately needs to go potty... she sings "Mommy, I need to go potty!!!" (doesn't talk - sings). Exasperated, I tell her to go as fast as she can. She runs upstairs and goes potty and comes back down. "Did you wash your hands?" "Um, someday I will....". After washing hands, we are one our way to Cello. She's singing "Let's go to Cello Lessons" the whole way there.

At Cello Lessons (which are actually Kienna's cello lessons that she sits in on), she is very excited to do "growing music" where they are plants that grow either up or down with the music; do rhythms on the drums; clap a songs "heartbeat" and many other things. She periodically will pout because the teacher doesn't ask her to do the rhythm as much as the paying students, and she's only 3, so she doesn't really understand that it's not all about "her".

At around 10, we are heading home. Saryn begins to sing the theme song from "Strawberry Shortcake" at the top of her lungs. Perfectly pitched and very "pop" like, just like the movie.

As we arrive at home, the Woodruff's arrive. We are watching Sarah and Matthew today (usually we only have Sarah). The kids all want to watch Fantasia - and who am I to stop them. It's great music and they all dance nicely to it. Saryn dances ballet to almost the entire show. Except for the times that she's playing the box violin that Kaia's teacher has given to her to practice with.

Kienna brought up a box of cars for the boys to play with and suddenly Saryn and Matthew are fighting over them. Matthew wants them to drive, but Saryn wants to play house with them. Yes, house with the cars. There are the mommy cars, the baby cars, the daddy cars....you name it! I give Saryn a warning that if she doesn't start to talk more nicely, she's going to have to sit down on the step. Her response is, "Not until YOU ask nicely..." So, Saryn has to sit on the step for a little bit until she's ready to be a little bit less sassy.

After about half an hour of playing, Saryn decides it's clean up time. She lets everyone know by singing the clean up song. Oh, how I LOVE the clean up song. It really is a miracle worker around here.

Suddenly, magically, lunch came. Shortly after it was finished, Saryn had a cheese string and was prancing around the kitchen and playing the box violin. Then she decided, "It's CANDY TIME". After a piece of candy, everyone piled in the car and dropped Kienna and Sarah off at school.

We come home and Saryn and Matthew play with the cars some more. Now we don't have the other girls as buffers and Saryn is getting REALLY frustrated. She comes up to me with her hands on her hips and says, "You tell Matthew to give me that car RIGHT NOW!!!". She later came up to me with a car and says, "Mom, is this a Kalickalo, or a Faleefalo?"

After about 20 minutes, Matthew leaves and I tell Saryn that it's time for her to go to sleep. She stamps her feet while she's walking away saying, "I DON'T WANT TO!!!" She remembers that she gets special snuggle time and a story when it's bed time though and so she surrenders. Mom, can you read me "I Love you Forever"? Of course! This is a favorite book of mine.
When we get to the part where the boy is 2 years old, the mother says, "THIS KID IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!" Saryn laughs and says, "That's just like you!"
As we're snuggling after the story, I asked her, "Are you my baby?" "Yeah..."
(This is a big deal. Usually she won't even let us say that she's our little girl....she's our big girl.)

Now, of course, every normal three year old just falls right asleep, right? No? Okay, good. It took a good 40 minutes before she finally stayed in bed long enough to do that. In between she went to the bathroom a couple times, she climbed onto my bed with vaseline in her hands, comes out to ask if I'll snuggle her about 100 times. When she WAS in bed, she was singing many songs at the top of her lungs. When I snuggled her, I gave her a kiss and then she said, "Okay, now I give YOU a kiss." She always wants to kiss me on my cheek after. If it's on the lips, she feels like perhaps she didn't kiss me. She HAS to kiss me on the cheek. After she went to the bathroom....."Did you wash your hands?" Her response is most often a shrug of the shoulders. So she gets sent back to wash up and then put back to bed. She FINALLY fell asleep. It was a miracle day and she slept for about 3 hours. Hallelujah!

On Friday, we skipped the nap and went to Costco and Old Navy. This could be a whole other post, but my favorite thing was in line at Costco. She runs around the posts in circles and then she stood at the back of the line and would dance and sing and then curtsey and say, "Okay Mom, clap for me!!" She is such a little diva. Always on stage....

With the shoes that she got at Old Navy...

I actually was able to be pretty productive during her nap. I haven't sewn for SUCH a long time, but I've had some fabric that I wanted to make into a table cloth sitting around, so I decided to make it up. I think it turned out pretty awesome.....

Anyway, when she wakes up, she plays with her doll "Baby Monet" (named after her baby cousin) and watches the pony part of Fantasia with her sisters, who have come home from school. Saryn asked specifically for the Pony part "Can we watch the Pony Part? cuz' I LOVE the Pony Part..."

Dinner time comes around (Kienna had fallen completely asleep before dinner was ready and she forfeited eating.....poor little thing). We have been talking about manners....and Saryn decided to remind us of one by singing, "Nee-na-no, Dee-da-do, don't sing at the table". After dinner is dessert and then bed time. She is such a big girl and gets herself almost completely ready for bed by herself. I just have to help her with the teeth. At bed time we read. Right now we're reading Little House on the Prairie books. We are currently reading "Farmer Boy" and Saryn is listening while dancing around the bed singing "Boo doo loo moo moo.....".

The night before, we read the last of Little House on the Prairie. Kienna asked me if Indians were real. I said that they were and we knew a few. We talked about people in the ward who are Indian, or who had parents who are. Even Saryn's nursery leaders are. We talked about how they are just like other people. Some of them are great people and some of them make bad decisions. I thought the talk went really well and that the kids had a new understanding until Saryn surprised me with....., "Oh, and an Octopus is an Indian too, right?"

She is in bed by 7:30, still moving by 8:30. At around 9, she comes downstairs, sits on my lap and looks at pictures on the computer with me. I had decided that since she slept for over 3 hours this afternoon, she can stay up for a little bit. She stopped and looked at me super sweetly and gave me a big hug and kiss and told me, "Mom, you're the best Mom EVER!"

Sigh, this is why I can do this every day with her.

Jarett called shortly after and talked to her for a second. Then she went to bed and fell fast asleep... This is a VERY typical day for Saryn. We don't always go to Cello, and very rarely take naps, but when we do....that is how it goes down. She is my monkey. She has all the energy that I wish I could have and I love her to death. Although there are many days that I feel like she could be turned into the zoo....I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Isn't she an angel?

The Giraffe

Mom got me this giraffe costume when I had Kaia as a newborn. It has been used for all four of my kids. I have uploaded a picture of each of them. Can you tell me which is which?





I don't think it's too hard, you're probably all too smart, but I want to see if anyone gets it!

And so it goes....

It hasn't been because my life hasn't been busy that I haven't posted anything for a while. HOLY SMOKES. I think I might be getting to the point where if I make it through a week without visiting our faithful pediatrician, I'd be really surprised. We have gone to see him almost every week since we came back to Edmonton. There have been annual visits(Kienna, Saryn & Jaymeson), Kaia and Kienna had strep throat, Kaia had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic Keflex. Swine Flu came and hit us hard. Kienna and Saryn both had it severely, Saryn was to the point where I was sleeping on her floor making sure she was breathing through the night. She was put on Tamiflu and things picked up quickly. Kaia they weren't sure about, but we thought it might be strep again. It turned out that we were right, her strep throat returned and she's now been put on some other antibiotics. Saryn is on Singulair to really control her asthma better. Jaymeson has been teething (which isn't dramatic, but it's difficult and very frustrating). Now, the flu is leaving their heads and the fever is gone, but on its way out, the flu couldn't help but give one last punch. Everyone has BRUTAL coughs that are keeping them up all night. Literally, ALL NIGHT. One after another would be coughing up a lung. As soon as one finished, another would start. It has been horrid! Kienna has also developed an ear infection that has been driving her crazy. After realizing that Kienna has lost almost 6 pounds, I start panicking. She has started looking so sick. Her eyes look sunken in and her lips are SO cracked and dry. She is SO lethargic and with this ear hurting and the coughing....back to the doctor we go. He said that her ear infection isn't really one he would normally treat, but with her surgery being only 6 days away, (tonsils, adenoids and ear tubes being removed) he needs that to be cleared up quickly. Now she's been put on antibiotics again, this time with a heavy dose to clear it up super fast. He also gave me Dimetapp with Codeine in it to stop the coughing at night. That way we can actually get some sleep to help their bodies heal. Last night was the first night in almost two weeks where I have been able to sleep straight through. It's been NON-STOP. I am feeling exhausted! Even Jarett has been showing symptoms of being sick. I'm worrying that it's strep throat. He's going into "final season" and is stressed to the max and is hardly ever home anymore. Hopefully he doesn't push himself too much or he may just collapse....which is what I am going to do right now. Kienna stayed home from school today to catch up on some much needed rest. All three of the kids are asleep, and so I am going to finish cleaning that which needs cleaning...and then going to sleep for as long as I can. Here's hoping for a quick recovery too all those who are sick, but especially little Kienna who has to be better for surgery next week!

We All Have Our Reasons....

I LOVE this man. Today we were learning about him in Family Home Evening. I knew my older girls knew who he was, but I thought I'd ask Saryn.

Mom: Saryn, do you know who this is?
Kienna whispering in Saryn's ear: President Monson
Saryn: President Pompom...(close enough)


Mom: Do you know why he is special?
Saryn: Cause he's bald??

I suppose we all have our reasons for loving the prophet, right? I think my top two reasons would be because I just feel his love every time I see him or hear him; and I LOVE his stories. My mom would frequently tell us Pres. Monson stories and I have always loved them.

Halloween Night!

I have nothing fun, creative or exciting to say....but we had a lot of fun trick-or-treating.
We went with some of our friends from the ward, the Woodruff's, and went around a couple blocks. The kids are quite easily worn out still and they couldn't handle much longer. It doesn't really matter though, because those houses hand out a TON of candy. I couldn't believe what 20 houses can equal.... Anyway, thought I would put up my overload of pictures. It wouldn't be a Cahoon occasion without me taking a bazillion pictures. (To see them all, look on facebook).

Little Mr. Hick!
He enjoyed playing with Kaia's hat. So far it's the only hat - EVER that he hasn't taken off immediately or sooner...

The Haunted Gingerbread House
Thanks Granni!

My four little Halloweeners.

My kids have ALL been the giraffe when they're about a year old. Traditions continue...

Saryn was a Fairy Princess....it says it right on her body suit.
Kaia EVEN forfeited the rights to the magic wand while Trick-or-Treating... if that isn't sisterly love, I don't know what is!

My Hula Queen! Half way through trick-or-treating, her ear started to hurt, so she got to put the hat up on her winter coat...the crown on top and the necklace around it. By the end she looked more like an Eskimo Queen that had recently been to Hawaii...

I explained this costume in the last post. Isn't my little Cowgirl gorgeous?

The Woodruff Family too!
Sarah as a witch; Matthew as Winnie the pooh; and Thomas as Batman

Those darn candy wrappers....

The Loot!! I KNOW - seriously, for 20 houses, this ain't bad....
Thank you to Granni Cahoon for providing these stylish Halloween Pillow cases...


That was Halloween this year folks. We were lucky to get out and the kids had a blast in the 30 minutes that we were out there. Hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween too!