Halloween & Beggar's Night

It's been raining and cold this past week, therefore some of the places we wanted to visit for Halloween in Des Moines just didn't happen because they were outdoors. No big deal, we were warm and toasty in our 5th wheel trailer while the temperatures averaged below the 50's. It's times like these that I'm especially thankful to have a two bedroom trailer so everyone can have their own space.

Our warm fireplace.

Thursday we planned to trick or treat at the Jordan Creek Mall because it was indoors, but before we went my brother Troy wanted to try some local BBQ and it did not disappoint. Smokey D's BBQ, you were worth the stop!

Troy & Kate in front of Smokey D's

Look at this silly family

Troy & Kate ❤️

I attempted to catch this gorgeous sunset with my camera phone because it was mind blowing with deep purple and reds.

We arrived at the Jordan Creek Mall with the boys in costume. Daniel was Iron Man and Caiden was Spider-Man.

Daniel, I mean Iron Man striking an action pose...

Caiden/Spider-Man climbed up to daddy's shoulders.

We followed the crowd of dressed up children and their parents in a single-file type line that moved around the mall. There were so many people there but it was very well executed. We were able to trick or treat all of the stores around the top level in about an hour without any melt-downs or insidents, Win!

So much sugar, so little time...

Daniel was enamered with this beautiful princess. 

Here is a view of the trick or treating lines.

Ahhh, now for the allotted two pieces of candy.

The kids aren't quite ready for bed after two pieces of candy.

Eventually they fell asleep (9:30pm) and the next day was Beggar's Night here in Iowa, which is on October 30th. This is when the children of Iowa dress up and go door to door trick or treating. I researched why it doesn't take place on Halloween like most of the country and found out that sometime in the 1920's, the state of Iowa decided to discourage the law-breaking and vandalism that always seemed to take place on Halloween night by introducing a new tradition of trick or treating the night before. That totally makes sense so we decided to go for it. At about 5pm we dressed the kids up in their superhero outfits and headed over to Troy & Kate's to trick or treat in their quaint little neighborhood. Also, it is customary to tell a joke in exchange for some candy so the whole way there, Dan was going over a "why didn't the skeleton cross the road" joke with Daniel. It's because "he had no guts" by the way but Daniel wasn't having any part of that joke, lol.

The anticipating car ride

The boys were interested in the skeleton yelling "let me out!" right outside Troy & Kate's house.

First official trick or treating 

Daniel attempted the joke...

Pulling Daddy to the next house.

The people were so nice and the boys loved it.

We're starting to run out of steam and it's not even dark yet.

Enjoying the spoils of the evening (3 pieces)

Happiness is Beggar's Night!

It was truely a fun Halloween experience here in Iowa for Our family. For Kate and I, it's not over yet. We are running in the Halloween Hot Chocolate 5k on Sunday, wish us luck!