Halloween in Arkansas

As it turns out, there WAS a Gruffalo in the woods!  (I know the suspense was probably killing you.)  But you've never heard of a Gruffalo, you say?  Well, clearly you are not spending enough time in the woods of eastern Arkansas (or reading enough children's literature).  Here's a picture of the Gruffalo scaring Walt and Meredith:

If you were to notice that the Gruffalo bears a striking resemblance to one Chris Lareau, you would not be wrong. 

But let's back up.  We started our marathon weekend (two weeks ago, but who's counting?) in Wynne, Arkansas, with a trip to the local community college for a potluck spaghetti supper and race registration.  After the carbo load, we hit the streets of Wynne for some trick-or-treating.  One street even had a platoon of inflatable halloween decorations lining the road, so we of course used one of them as a festive backdrop for a photo op with our little racecar driver and ballerina.

Thanks to Aunt Harriet and Uncle Richard who sent the racecar driver pajamas last year.  Two bucks for a plastic helmet and Walt had his costume!

You've gotta wonder if SOMEBODY was trying to steal her candy, the way Mer is sitting on her loot!  But we couldn't linger long over the candy that night because we all had to be up bright and early to get to the 8 a.m. race start.  Walt had to be dragged out of bed, but he rallied quickly when he realized that we were going to his absolute favorite thing these days -- a race!  (He races everything, his cars, magnetic letters from the fridge, state puzzle pieces . . . "Hey Mommy, do you want Florida or Utah to win the race?")

And then 3:40 minutes later, Chris crossed the finish line . . .

. . . followed 15 minutes later by Josh.

A good showing by both, particularly considering that it was an unseasonably warm and sunny day.  While the marathoners lolled about on the grass reliving the race, Walt and Mer decided to have their own race.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Village Creek State Park taking "hikes" (which are pretty short when most of the hikers are either three years old or just ran 26.2 miles), making s'mores and eating Halloween candy.  Good times.