We had three events lined up for the day. First up was a “Spooktacular” parks & rec event at the historic Jenkins Estate and Fanno Farmhouse. The site was beautiful as you can see in the photos with perfect Portland misty weather. They had themed kids activities from face painting to ring toss. Then there was the relaxing hay ride to a pumpkin patch where Jasmine got to pick out a pumpkin for dad to carry back to the car. After finishing up the activities we strolled through the nice gardens.

The second event was a dad and daughter outing to the Bridgeport shopping center for trick-or-treating around the stores. They had live entertainment by Disney radio, which I don’t know what that is, but Jasmine enjoyed watching a couple dancers boogie down. After 30 minutes of trick-or-treating we passed the playground and Jasmine decided this would be more fun than collecting candy. So dad got to sit down and relax while daughter played with the other costumed kids for 30 minutes. Then it was time to head home for dinner.

The third event of the day was dad and daughter hitting up our neighbors for candy – I mean um residential trick-or-treating. Mom stayed home and manned the door. Jasmine collected a good haul of packaged delights. And her parents were quiet considerate in helping Jasmine eat the candy.

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We had a wonderful brunch with our friends Kristin and Mac. We had scrambled eggs, tater tots, and lots of yummy bacon. For desert we had cherry turnovers. After the meal I played ghost for a bit with the kids as they ran around until the screaming was too much for our ears. Then we cleared the table and had ourselves a pumpkin carving. The adults did most of the work while the kids “supervised” and provided the final touches such as popping out the pre-carved sections.

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We went to our first Halloween event of the season at our favorite Parks & Rec Center. Jasmine made her grand debut as the Pirate Princess. We arrived to the festival just in time to see the zombie dancers give a great performance on stage. And yes, they were playing Michael Jackson’s song Thriller. Jasmine was enthralled. We then wandered around admiring the great costumes and trying out some the activities such as putting your hand into some scary boxes to feel what was inside.

Soon enough Jasmine grew bored and excitedly asked to go the haunted house. So after standing in line for many minutes, we went inside whereupon Jasmine immediately yelled to get the heck out upon hearing all the scary noises. So dad picked her up and carried her the rest of the way through the maze. Afterwords, at the crayon coloring table, Jasmine shared her haunted house experiences with the other kids saying “A zombie chased me and my dad.” The other girl said “A zombie chased us too. When I grow up and have kids, I will make sure they never go to a haunted house.” Jasmine replied “me too.”

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Emily’s mom, Carolyn,  came out to visit. Jasmine really hit it off with ‘Grandma’. We went out for lunch a lot and enjoyed getting our pumpkins for Halloween and fresh caramel apples. We went to an international dance festival at the library. Jasmine almost got up on stage twice to dance. Each day after school Jasmine came home to vegetable appetizers in a variety of shapes and designs made by Grandma. The visit was over too quickly, but we are looking forward to seeing her again at Christmas.

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It was my turn for birthday party duty.  The event was at Pump it Up Jr. which is an indoor playground full of inflatable slides, bounces, and obstacle courses. The kids had lots of fun but the enclosed space made the noise deafening – my ears were definitely hurting afterwords. Even so, it was quieter than my Chucky Cheese experience.

After playing, we ate homemade and very tasty cupcakes. Then there was a wild frenzy of present opening as each kid competed to have their present opened first by birthday girl Ella.

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