Happy Neewollah!

Yes, I spelled Halloween backwards on purpose. :) Neewollah is a Kelly family tradition and has been around for longer than I ever realized....as in since 1919! (Fun fact: Tim's grandpa Dan was born the night of the Neewollah torchlight parade. His mom went into labor while she was there and went home and had him.) There are so many things to do, from a play, to the kiddie parade, to the carnival. It's a blast!

We were able to have the kids in the kiddie parade and then stayed overnight so we could go to the grand parade the next morning. (Thanks again for the hotel room, Dan and Ginny!) The kids weren't feeling so great, but they had fun walking the route. Brenden was even stopped for a picture and made sure to put his pistols up. :) Lauren smiled and waved, happy to see so many people.

Dorothy

Pistol Pete

We had a rough night at the hotel, which set us up for a rather rough morning. Our chairs were moved for the parade and I thought the ladies that were sitting in our spot were going to fight us. Then, when we found another spot (not marked or roped off) we were told to move, along with about 100 other people, because it was "reserved". That was definitely an oversight on the parade planners part. We found spots for our chairs but we weren't near the street, which is where they throw the candy. (Must. Have. Candy. Oy...) Tim asked a lady if we could use the spot next to her and she said no because she'd "been there since 6 am." Tim was not a happy camper. Another lady grabbed him and said she'd be more than happy to share her spot with us...right next to the lady that had told us no. In the end, it all worked out well. We were super close to the parade, the kids got lots of candy, and the lady that originally told us no apologized profusely and was really nice. 

Lauren's favorite part: the marching bands. She stood up and marched with them, twirling her sucker wildly.

Brenden's favorite part: the candy, of course. :)

After a good rest at Gi Gi and Poppy's house, and watching our Oklahoma State Cowboys get a good lead on the Baylor Bears, we headed off to the carnival for some yummy fair food and rides.

Brenden, as usual, had a blast on the rides. Lauren, who we were not sure about, loved them! She was very unhappy to be taken out of her "Me-mo". (Aka: Nemo) Add in a few corndogs, a lemonade, and some extremely overpriced games and you have the recipe for an awesome night.

Sunday we were able to see Lou Lou's new apartment, move a piece of furniture for her and then head up to Dewey to visit Bell (my grandma Warehime). Then we headed back home to carve our pumpkins. Lauren picked a cat and Brenden picked a "mean" pumpkin face. (Yes, that's what he calls mean.) 

It was a long, wonderful weekend and we already have reservations for next year. :) 

 Happy Halloween!!!