Halloween 2025!

It was so nice having Halloween on a Friday this year!  And my annual field trip to Mexican town was earlier in the week so I wasn't utterly exhausted.  Evan's middle school Halloween party was the day before after school and he had a good time with his friends.  Three of them decided to dress up as characters from Monsters Inc. (Evan was Sully, Nick was Mike W., and Miles was Randall).  We carved pumpkins Wednesday evening at home, even though we had carved pumpkins at the beginning of October for a birthday party with family.  I made seeds and we kept the tradition alive.

Halloween, after school, we went over to Jackie's for a quick dinner and visit with family.  She made two types of chili, I brought DIY pizza stuff for the kids, and there was fruit and other sides.  We only stayed about an hour and then I dropped Evan off at Miles' house for them to trick or treat together and have a sleepover.  Sounds like they had a fun night!  Sean and AJ came over to our house and trick or treated in our neighborhood.  Shelley came over to hang out with me and Scott.  We had hot cider in the crockpot and passed out a little bit of candy to the few trick or treaters who hit up our house.  I rode my bike over to Dave and Stacey's for a visit at their party and we sat by the bonfire and watched Black Phone for a while.  It was a fun night.  

And now, 10 days later...we have so much candy in our house and it's hard to believe Halloween was already that many days ago!  It was a good one this year and sad at the same time as it hits me that my boys are almost too old for some of these traditions.  

A spooky weekend in Salem, MA!

My mom and I took a girls trip to Salem, MA for a long weekend to see all the Salem Witch Trial things and to see how they go all out for Halloween.  We left on a Thursday, after work and had a 5:45pm flight direct to Boston.  Our plane was delayed about an hour for construction at the Boston airport, but we enjoyed dinner in the airport and a beer.  Upon arrival in Boston, we took the bus to the rental car station and got our vehicle.  In hindsight, we didn't need to rent a car.  We could have easily just used Uber/Lyft the whole weekend.  We checked in and got settled in our room and went to sleep pretty quickly.

Friday, we hit the ground running!  Breakfast at the hotel, a 25 minute Uber ride, and we were ready to fit in as much as we could of Salem for the day.  We started at the Bewitched Statue and walked to the shops in the area on Essex Street, stopping at Blackcraft, Black Veil, and a few others.  There were characters in costume you could pose with if you left them a tip.  It was fun!  We also went to the Ropes Mansion that was in Hocus Pocus and enjoyed the garden behind the house and saw the Witch House.  We had a reservation (that I made at 8am) at 12:30 at the Salem Witch Museum.  I liked the first part where they did a big re-enactment of the Salem Witch Trials, but the second half of the museum was a bit disappointing.  We grabbed lunch at The Tavern inside the historical Hawthorne Hotel and it was delicious!

After lunch, we took an Uber to a cidery called Far From the Tree and had a special flight with flavors named after the characters in Hocus Pocus.  It was a cute place and it gave us time to rest and relax.  We did more shopping mid-afternoon and went to our dinner reservation at Turner's Seafood.  It was delicious!  Then, we walked over to find our group for our walking historical tour.  Our tour guide did a great job and we learned a lot!  By then, we were beat!  We went back to the hotel and enjoyed a cocktail in the hotel room with our feet up.

Saturday we got a later start and barely made it to the breakfast.  We took an Uber to Salem again and started our day with more shopping on Essex Street and I even splurged on a Tarot card reading for 15 minutes.  Not sure it was worth the money, but I suppose where else should you do one of those than the original witch shop in Salem?  We had lunch at Longboard's down by the waterfront and it was very good.  Then, we were off to our reservation at the Seven Gables House.  I enjoyed our tour of the house and grounds and it was a beautiful day to just take in the water and the Halloween boat parade happening!

The rest of our afternoon was spent doing more shopping at the shops by the waterfront to avoid the crowds on Essex Street.  It was much busier on a Saturday and I think we both weren't up for the crowds.  I'm glad we did the majority of that on Friday when it wasn't as crazy.  We waited about 45 minutes to get a table at the Lobster Shanty for dinner and drinks and then we were off to our haunted pub crawl.  One stop in and we weren't really feeling the group or the first location.  We decided to venture off and do our own thing and just eat the cost.  We went to two fun bars (one was a speakeasy underground) and enjoyed a few drinks and our last few hours in Salem.  An Uber ride back to the hotel and we packed and watched Ghostbusters II on TV in our pajamas.  

We had an early flight Sunday morning so it was a quick bite to eat at the hotel and off to return our rental car before our flight.  We were home by noon and celebrated fall birthdays at our house before my mom and dad went on to their house.  I'm glad my mom and I could get away for a long weekend and it was a good mix of educational and fun!