Today we went to a local nature park for some Halloween stuff for the kids. COVID is breaking Halloween, and visiting grandma, and all the costume things, so we took this offering by the city, for the kids.

It was pretty clever and fun, and made me wish I wasn't already a little ugh, because I turned a lot ugh as the night went on. I've been a bit congested and stricken with the usual fall ails. It's been a little easier this year, and really last year, too. Not because of anything in the weather, but because I'm "stuck" at home with the office closed, so I can chose to not be on Zoom cameras, or mute to blow my nose and moan or grumble, and no one is any wiser. I can be nicer later, because I don't have to be as nice all day. I mean, Fridays are my talkiest days, when I meet my team, so I gotta be nice, but the meetings are spaced out, so I can recover between.

The kids were at school, even though it's MEA weekend; the school's closed, but the kid-care program uses the building. I fetched the kids, we had a quick dinner of chili, which helped clear the nostrils just a little bit, and was otherwise delicious. And then we took off to a Autumn Halloween party at the local nature park.

The nature park is almost all outdoors, and so was our evening event. It was dark when we got there, so it could have been really Halloweenie, but it was geared toward the youngsters, so it was pretty mellow. Mostly a nature park with candy. We traced through one of the paths meeting local wildlife trying to discover "who has a home with a hidden door?" and "who uses a smoker?" We met a bunch of dad-sized mascot-style local wildlife, had a brief chat with each, and then spent too much time (for dad with a headache) digging through buckets of candy looking for favorites. At the end of the trail, we were quizzed for the answers, and the kids giddily revealed "a beaver," and "a beekeeper" (which I think was a little bit of a cheat...because they're not really wildlife...), for which they were rewarded with a pencil or something not candy.

We played some games, all nature themed, with little Halloween to it. To be fair, it was really kind of autumn season more than Halloween, although the candy sent a mixed message, and costumes were encouraged. So a little bit of "Halloween is autumn" messaging, I guess. The games gave some non-candy rewards, like little frog erasers for the frog jumping game, and acorn coasters at the acorn tossing game, which were nice. But also more Tootsie Rolls than we need to kick off a dad-has-a-headache weekend. Somewhere in there we saw a puppet show about little owls worried about mother owl, who was just out hunting, like she does every day. There was a commemorative photo taken, where everyone was encouraged to take off their otherwise encouraged covid mask. A brief dance party in the middle, although since there wasn't any candy here, the kids wanted to quickly move on, even though this was the only bit we saw and visited with any friends for the whole evening.

The event was bookmarked with bus rides, because the nature park parking lot isn't as big as the one at the nearby school. Even though the kids ride the bus every day to school, they were as psyched as could be for the rides there and back. I realized, of course, that school busses are made for kids, and not six-food giants, like myself. The ride was smooth, and on the way back, the kids tried eating as much candy as they could before we got in the car and home for bed.

It turned a little cold at the end, but we had dressed for it. The kids had fun, I was ugh, still, but enjoyed it, even if I didn't act like it. Not my weather, man.

Everyone's healthy.