Happy Halloween!

Captain America and Ceratosaurus get ready
to explore town.

Jake has been planning his costume for Halloween for about 3 months now.  As you might remember from last year, he gets very particular ideas about what he wants to be and it usually can’t be bought in a store (even though this year we had plenty of stores to chose from while we were home).   This year he decided he wanted to be a dinosaur.  But not just any dinosaur, he wanted to be a Ceratosaurus.  He wanted horns, stripes, blood stains and claws like a real therapod.  

I got ambitious and bought fabric and a pattern while we were in the states.  After stressing over it for quite some time, Andy finally had the brilliant idea to have the seamstress here in Pohnpei sew it for me.  So we did.  But that was just the beginning.  Jake had to make it just right.  So he and Andy spent a whole day putting stripes, horns, and blood on it specifically to Jake's directions.  They made a mask and claws as well (he ended up not actually wearing the mask, but it was his "favorite" part).  Jake thinks it's his most creative costume yet...he was very proud.

After spending so much time on his costume, we had to make sure someone saw it!  We were lucky this year in that we had another kid to go trick or treating with and we had places other than boats to go.  

We started out at the Rusty Anchor with Luke and his dad.  The boys got to show off their costumes and have some dinner to get them energized.  Then we got in the car and off we went.  

He wanted to make sure we all saw his tail.

Every dinosaur needs a bit of sushi before going out to hunt.

Trick or treating in the kitchen of the Rusty Anchor.

Getting their "treat"...ice cream!

Andy and I weren't sure if Halloween was a big deal here or not.  We quickly learned it was a HUGE deal.  Kids everywhere, cars everywhere, candy everywhere.  It's a lot like in the states only no sidewalks and no streetlights.  People pick their favorite neighborhoods and the parents drive them there.  Unfortunately, there's not many "neighborhoods" so everyone picks the same ones.  And it's the ones the Ex-Pats live in...the best candy and fewest dogs, I'm guessing.  You use the same general principal in deciding which houses to go to - the ones with the lights on.  Only the Pohnpeans don't want you to be confused so if they really don't want to hand out candy (or aren't home), just to make sure it's clear, they leave their dogs on the porch to bark and run at you.  Cool, huh?

The kids had a great time and were very excited about their candy.  It's still funny to me to watch Jake eat candy as he doesn't know the names of everything and his favorites are still those weird candy's they don't sell in the US.  Which makes it good for Andy and I.  While Jake eats his wacky jaw breakers, Andy and I get the Skittles and Snickers bar.

We're heading out next week, so from here on out we'll be doing our thing trying to get ready.  It might be a month or so before we actually get to Yap, so a bit more planning is in store this time.  Stay tuned.