When Mum called a few months ago to ask if Oliver wanted to go see the Wiggles live in concert Erin's first reaction was "Are you sure? Have you seen that show?" (She hadn't).

Still we thought Oliver would enjoy it so we said "Sure", and then poured ourselves a nice stiff drink. We tried watching "The Wiggles" once last year, when our friend Lori was visiting from Australia and loaned us one of her son Patrick's discs. We got about five minutes in and couldn't really take the grown men bouncing around like idiots - which meant, of course, that Oliver loved it. We desperately wanted to turn it off but didn't want to upset him - and then the power went out! (Thank god for flaky power @ the cottage)

With that experience in mind we braced ourselves for what was sure to be a long, long Saturday morning.

After dawdling around the outside of the Skydome (I refuse to call it by it's new name) as Oliver checked out every intricate detail of the doors, sidewalk and anything else he encountered we finally got inside - at which point Nana promptly marched him over to the souvenir stand and pretty much told the girl "one of each please" (did I mention Granddad was out of town?).

Once the show got started it actually turned out to be pretty enjoyable for the parents too. I don't know if it was just that show or if the guys were always like that but even they seemed to be having trouble with the silliness of it all - on more than a few occasions they cracked each other up to the point where it took them some time to recompose themselves. I also got the distinct impression there were times where they were just outright messing with each other.

Oliver, although feeling a bit under the weather, loved it and once he got used to the 6,000 other screaming children he started to really get into it - doing the actions and everything.

Overall he had a great time but when we got home that evening he passed out at five o'clock and ended up going to bed without supper and getting a good 13 hours sleep.

Photos:

This year we figured Oliver would be good for a few houses up and down the block - we had no idea he'd muster the energy to cover over 30!

Erin picked up a great costume for him (as you'll see below) - it was a dragon costume but rather than covering him entirely he stepped into it so his legs were the dragon's legs - but then the head came out by his stomach and the wings and tail came out the side and back. It was nice because a)he could see and enjoy the costumes and b) it was a cool night so we could put a jacket on without covering the costume up.

With help from his babysitter Debbie, who taught all the kids the motions of Halloween, he did a great job saying "Trick or Treat" at each house and following up with a "Thank you" after he got his candy. He had a great time and even this morning he came wandering into the bedroom with his bag as we were getting ready for work making yet another attempt at Trick or Treating. Heck he even said thank you after Erin stuck a (fresh) Kleenex in his bag. :)

To get ready for Halloween we took Oliver to the Pumpkin patch at Springridge farms in Milton. It was a pretty cool day (complete with hail) and it was mucky from the previous day's rain but we still had a great time.

Oliver loved tearing through the maze they had setup and just trundled off into it on his own without waiting for us. He also got to go for a pony ride (something he's still not completely sure about even though he's been before) and see the other animals. Overall I think I liked Chudleigh's farm better last year but it was still a good day.

After playing Oliver picked out his own little pumpkin (which has been carted around the house like an abstract teddy bear) and we got a bigger one to carve that night (see the coming Halloween post).

Photos from the day: