Enchanting Halloween - California Style!

Having spent Halloween all over the world in many places, it's been especially fun this year to celebrate this Halloween holiday at home, doing it California beach style. There are not too many places where the weather is divine and one is surrounded by redwoods, river and ocean during a Halloween parade.



Mozart,  dressed as a wild cat, got to be in this sweet Halloween parade at the oldest beachtown in California with her soon-to-be-84 year old Grandmother ( who's traveled with us). We did this with our daughter during her first 5 years of life, but now that she has experienced Halloween in other parts of the world, she appreciates it even more.

 

Not too many places combine Halloween and surfing, but it seems perfectly natural here at this very family friendly beach in charming Capitola.

We've actually been celebrating Halloween all week and returning to places like this pumpkin patch which have good memories for us all.





This year Mozart read Dracula in anticipation on going to Romania, so she got a special kick out of this blow up Dracula at her favorite pumpkin patch.

 

I never realized that one of the advantages of our family travel lifestyle is that Mozart so appreciates the little details and overkill of typical American holidays. I think most kids who just turned 11 might be a bit jaded and over saturated with it all, but having missed these 6 years of our home country, she just relishes this opportunity and how many happy memories of her early childhood flood back. She is an American kid after all, so special for all of us to re-immerse for a bit.




But of course, it's a LOT about the candy for kids, isn't it? Mozart loves the hunt and enjoyed the folks who threw some and necklaces off their balconies during the parade. That reminded me a bit of the candy throwing in Spain and Christmas time.

One of the fabulous  things we love here is we get to walk to the beach and many things from our base in California at my mother's home. It's a very beautiful area and it's wonderful to allow ourselves to be enchanted by it again.  One store even gave Mozart a sample of pumpkin ice cream that you see her eating here on our walk and she enjoyed painting that little pumpkin during the festivities at the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We haven't carved a pumpkin jack-o-latern in six years, so that was also a thrill and especially fun to do it amongst huge redwood trees with ocean views.

We were featured on Have Family Will Travel and Thinkwell on the subject of Halloween on the road while doing world travel .How about you? How is your Halloween going? What was your favorite part?

Comments

[Marlana]

Cute! Not going to lie, though, that alone would overwhelm me.

Well, in our homeschool group of about 105 kids, we had a game time on Halloween, but totally not the same holiday to me.

[Jeanne soultravelers3]

I hear ya, Marlana and I am glad that we don't do this every year, but it was quite fun because we have been away from it so long. Kidlet had a ball and we were done about 8pm. ;) We sold the candy to a dentist and she has fun memories...especially nice that she could share it with Grandma too. ;)

[Denise Gallant]

Hi,
I believe I may be using one of your pictures, which was used for the Capitola Halloween Parade Poster. I am in contact with the Capitola Foundation. Ethan Oates also referred me to you.
I am contacting you for permission to use it for a few seconds in a real estate video, which will be one of many on a web site for David Lyng Real Estate. I can send you a link to the video if necessary. It occurs when the City Treasurer refers to the Halloween parade. I can always remove this, but would like to keep it if possible. Let me know, thank you.
Denise Gallant