All Hallows' Eve

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, which meant an entire weekend's worth of fun. It started on Saturday, when my Mom unveiled my awesome costume, Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. I showed off at a neighborhood party that afternoon and on Sunday I made an appearance at Brookfield Zoo's Boo! At The Zoo, where I got cheated out of best costume due to a judge's ignorance of the "No store bought costumes eligible for a prize" rule. Finally, on Halloween, I went to school in costume, then met up with Ethan for some trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. Much to my Dad's surprise, most of the homes and apartments had candy and one block even had a street party complete with cider for the adults. When we got home we ordered some pizza, then Ethan and I combined all of our candy and split it evenly with each other. Our parents were shocked.

Oh, Canada or How I May Have Just Repeated A Title Cause There Are Only So Many Available For Canada Posts

It happened again. I found myself in Canada. Toronto specifically, plus the part between Detroit and Toronto, but that was mainly experienced through a car window. This marks my sixth visit to our friendly neighbor up north and I am not even six-years-old. Dad hopes Canada has a 'visit us ten times and get honorary citizenship free' offer, then I can go to the University of Toronto while he feigns illness, moves in with me, and basks in single payer health insurance. Unfortunately, this was the quickest of the six visits, so not much activity, but nice visits with Aina and Zane, plus lots of bread, thanks to Papa.

Thanks Christopher Columbus

A long, long time ago this Italian guy Christopher Columbus was paid by Spain to go look for land and the riches that come with it. The land Chris found was in the general area of where America is today, which was good enough for some serious and continued recognition in street names, statues, circles and- most importantly- a holiday that nets me a day off from school. And what did I learn from this year's day away from the education grind? Well, without Columbus' discovery of "America" I would not get to go to zoos with my family or play mini-golf and skee ball with my dad. Thanks Mr. Columbus!