October 31, 2016- Halloween!

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: STILL DECIDING

Halloween Weekend Re-cap

I'm back!!!

I had to take a little hiatus yesterday because I needed to leave so early and did not have wifi at the barn.

Did ya miss me?  I missed giving you the scoop for the weekend!! But, today, I'm going to tell you all about my day yesterday!

Boy did we have a great day at Dream Come True Farm at the Annual Halloween Parade!
Every year, they hold a costume contest for which the kids compete with one another for the best "dress up" of rider and horse.

All of the kids worked so hard.  It always breaks my heart when one of these kids loses.

All-Star Posing before the costume contest (c)travelincousins.com

Gianna and All Star as Fire & Ice (winning 2nd Place) (c)travelincousins.com

Kelsey and Ace as Piglet & Tigger (winning 3rd place) (c)travelincousins.com

Getting pinned! (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

My little Piglet! (c)travelincousins.com

The parade around the arena was great!  Kelsey joined forces with two friends to have a trio of "Kanga & Roo" and "Eyore & Pooh" as well as the "cast" from Frozen!

Cruella de Ville was in the house, as was a biker and a hunter and his horse!  

Third Place "tied" winners (c)travelincousins.com

"Cast" from Frozen (c)travelincousins.com

Cruella with her Dalmation horse (c)travelincousins.com

Folks, I'm sorry the indoor pics are so awful, but the glare was terrible from all the windows in the arena a the time of the show.

We lucked out with the weather too - sunny and warm!

I had hoped to take my little Punkin inside, but, she was frightened and so I left her in the air conditioned car for a a little bit to rest - and rest she did - she was a tired little girl from running around the barn grounds all morning!

Punkin falling asleep sitting up after running around the barn grounds all morning (c)travelincousins.com

Punkin out cold in the car (c)travelincousins.com

Yesterday marked the end of two days at Dream Come True.  Saturday, the girls had their usual camp day and it was a "dress rehearsal" for trying on and finalizing costumes for the horses.

The actual show as well as the Fall Festival was the focus at the barn yesterday, which was open to the public.

As fun as it was, I have to say, that is how tiring it was!!  When the costume parade was over at 1:30, I swear it felt like it was 7pm at night!

I felt smelly, sweaty, and hot in my barn boots and just wanted to be on our way.

We got a lovely invitation to have dinner at the house of one of the girls' friends' grandmother's house, which we took graciously.

It was a very special way to end the weekend - eating, reviewing all the events and watching the girls play before having to get back home to get ready for school today.

This week is not so bad since tomorrow the girls have off for All Saint's Day and then there is an early dismissal on Friday for First Fridays.

​So why exactly do we celebrate Halloween and what is the holiday based on?

​16 Spooky Facts About Halloween

Jack o Lantern (halloweenpumpkincarving.com)

1. The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin. The word "Hallowe'en" means "hallowed evening" or "holy evening."

2. “Hallows' Eve” or “Hallows' Evening,” which was the evening before All Hallows' or All Saints Day or Hallowmas on November 1st.

3. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,[9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.

4. Ireland is typically believed to be the birthplace of Halloween and is  thought to have originated around 4000 B.C., which means Halloween has been around for over 6,000 years.

5. It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from Celtic harvest festivals which may have pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, and that this festival was Christianized as Halloween.

6. October 31st. as long been known as "The Festival of the Dead." The Celtic tribes and their priests the Druids celebrated this day as a marker for the change from life to death.

7. Trick-or-treating evolved from the ancient Celtic tradition of putting out treats and food to placate spirits who roamed the streets at Samhain, a sacred festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.

8. Halloween was influenced by the ancient Roman festival Pomona, which celebrated the harvest goddess of the same name. Many Halloween customs and games that feature apples (such as bobbing for apples) and nuts date from this time. In fact, in the past, Halloween has been called San-Apple Night and Nutcrack Night.

9. During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.”

10. Dressing up as ghouls and other spooks originated from the ancient Celtic tradition of townspeople disguising themselves as demons and spirits. The Celts believed that disguising themselves this way would allow them to escape the notice of the real spirits wandering the streets during Samhain.

11. According to tradition, if a person wears his or her clothes inside out and then walks backwards on Halloween, he or she will see a witch at midnight.

12. The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicce, meaning “wise woman.” In fact, wiccan were highly respected people at one time. According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.

13. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits. There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern which is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell"

14. ​In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[118][119] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger – making it easier to carve than a turnip. 

15. Americans will buy 600 million pounds of candy on Halloween.

16. Candy corn is the most popular candy bought during Halloween. Americans buy over 20 million pounds of it.


Well, wishing you a Happy Halloween!!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
​NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 4 DAYS

Trick or Treat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS!

Are you ready to go trick or treating?

In a few short hours almost all member of this household will dress up in fun costumes - we don't do scary around here. 
And then parade around the neighborhood!

I always look forward to having kids in cute costumes come by for goodies. 

But considering that Halloween fell on a Monday the year, I'm not certain how busy the neighborhood will be - there are definitely times when this neighborhood is lacking in being festive. 

As of this moment, I cannot find my camera. I didn't realize this until only a wee bit ago. So my side might be lacking in photos.
The couple of pics that I do have were taken with my phone.

One being from out in Palos Verdes yesterday after the kids had a lovely performance.

IPC (c)travelincousins.com

Added after I found my camera (c)travelincousins.com

After the performance, I was thinking that we'd just stop for a treat at this new all Vegan Ice Cream shoppe that happens to be right around the corner from Dave's office.
However, once we were on the road it was quickly realized that Cosette was quite hungry!  
I was also kinda eager to get home and catch game 5 of the MLB World Series.

So we decided to make a couple of quick stops and grab some stuff to go.
First stop was a Hug Life (the Anti-Milk Ice Cream shoppe), however they happened to be closed because they were busy visiting the SoCal VegFest. Bummer.
The next stop was at a nearby and also new location of Loving Hut.

Here's more on this chain:
​Loving Hut is the largest family of vegan restaurants in the world and is the winner of VegNews 2010 Favorite Vegan Restaurant award. We have more than 200 locations spanning across multiple countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. In the USA, over 40 outlets have been established in major cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, and San Francisco. 

Loving Hut is created with the vision that all beings can live in peace, love and harmony with each other. All of the menu items are made with only wholesome, plant-based ingredients. Each Loving Hut is individually owned, with the autonomy to choose its own menu, thus giving a distinctive difference among all of our locations. 

Loving Hut believes that a plant-based diet is healthier, more compassionate, and is the only sustainable diet for the whole planet. They invite the world of delicious vegan cuisine. Bon appétit!

After placing and receiving our order it was time to hit the road and catch the game. With the Cubs down 3 games to 1 vs the Indians, this was a very important game and one that the Cubs had to win in order to stay alive and keep the series going. It is a best of 7 series.
The other major factor for this game was that the Cubs had not won any World Series games at Chicagos Wrigley Field (luv it there btw - GREAT ballpark) since 1945!

(c)travelincousins.com

And so we attempted to rush home...
BUT there was a delay in our game once we stepped foot outside of the restaurant.

There in front of Cosette stood a shaking and scared lost and collar-less little dog. And there was no way that we were just gonna leave her there to possibly get  hit by a car or sent to the pound and put to sleep.
No Siree!
So we took the sweet little dog door to door in search of her family. Most of the people I had spoken to thought I was crazy! Has no one ever tried to help animals in this part of town???
After going door to door, we drove around the neighborhood and had thought we actually found her home when a man who was standing in the driveway with his family had said YES that was his dog...until he walked closer and said NO it wasn't his dog. For what it is worth, the pooch didn't seem to now him either.
At this point we had no choice but to take him home with us and continue our search online.

Poor LOST DOG (c)travelincousins.com

So at this point we headed home and the kids gave the little gal a bath...BTW at first the kids told me that this canine was a boy, it wasn't until the bath was given that they came back to me and told me that it's actually a GIRL! 

I wasted no time and got in front of the TV to hoot, holler, clap, boo and hiss as I watched a close and intense game 5. If the Cubs didn't win last night, then that would be a victory or winning the World Series for the Indians. Which by the way the Indians also haven't won a World Series since 1920!

Can you imagine?! The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908 and the Indians since 1920 - that is CRAZY! Honestly with either team winning it will be quite an accomplishment, but since the Indians have at least made it to the World Series on a number of different years since their last win and the Cubs have just been cursed - plus since I think the Cubs have a great fan base and I love Chicago and Wrigley -
​I'm a Yankees fan but I'm ROOTING CUBS! 

GO CUBS! (c)travelincousins.com

In the Cubs dugout 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

And yes I said CURSED - It's the curse of the Billy Goat, and USA Today explained it as such:

Tavern owner William "Billy Goat" Sianis was stopped at the gate before Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field with his goat, Murphy, in tow.

Murphy’s stench, rather than the fact he was, well, a goat, seemed to be the determining factor on why the animal wasn’t allowed into the game. The goat had his own ticket, after all.

“You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again,” Sianis proclaimed.

The Chicago Cubs dropped Game 4, a defeat that evened the series at 2-2. The Detroit Tigers eventually won the championship in seven games and “The Curse of the Billy Goat” was born.

Once the Curse of the Bambino --- the legend based off the Boston Red Sox’s trade of slugger Babe Ruth --- was shredded as Boston broke its title drought by winning the 2004 World Series, the Billy Goat curse became baseball’s inarguable top hex.

The Cubs are back in their first World Series since Sianis, a Greek immigrant who owned The Billy Goat Tavern, wasn’t allowed to bring his goat inside Wrigley. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908.

But they finally at least won a World Series at home game last night! And so the Cubs fans had every right to celebrate the night away with their first World Series game win at Wrigley in 71 years.

​Yeah I was celebrating too!!

Now how about a little bit of focus on Halloween?

Did you notice that Elisa posted 16 Spooky Facts about Halloween? You should check it out!

Notice how on fact number 16, how Candy Corn is the most popular bought during Halloween (do people actually buy it at other times during the year??) 

Anyhow what the heck is Candy Corn anyway?

According to good ol' Wikipedia:
Candy corn was created in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Philadelphia, PA-based Wunderle Candy Company. The Goelitz Confectionery Company began production at the turn of the 20th century and called the product "Chicken Feed."
In 2001 the company was renamed the "Jelly Belly Candy Company."

​Originally the candy was made by hand. Manufacturers first combined sugar, corn syrup, carnauba wax, and water and cooked them to form a slurry. Fondant was added for texture and marshmallows were added to provide a soft bite. The final mixture was then heated and poured into shaped molds.

Candy corn is a candy most often found in the United States and Canada, popular primarily around Halloween. The three colors of the candy – a broad yellow end, a tapered orange center, and a pointed white tip – mimic the appearance of kernels of corn. Each piece is approximately three times the size of a real kernel from a ripe or dried ear.

Because of the Marshmallow addition it is therefore NOT a Vegan product...
You did realize that Marshmallows weren't vegan right?

Are you a fan of Candy Corn?

​Whatever type of candy fan you are, I hope that you get lots...just don't eat it all tonight!

I'll catch ya back here tomorrow with all our fun dress up pictures.

Oh and btw we found my camera - so I'll update this page and add a few more pics for your enjoyment :)

I'm outta here,
​-T