Halloween Parade Videos

Monster Mash

Click for a hilarious Burch Family (plus Hannah and Anthon) Halloween Video!

Eugene "Trunk-or-Treat"

Claire is wiggly and excited to get to the party. I made her stop for a picture with our Samhain tribute pumpkin (Samhain means Celtic New Year, which is what Halloween was before it was held hostage by invading religions...).
Claire checks out the fooky "Blood Toss" game. She thought it might be nice to tip over the decorations and start the clean up help early.
Happy puppy surveys the scene.
Thanks again to Hooma and Aunt Hannah for selecting this awesome puppy suit!
Claire with her good friend Josh. His parents were pirates too and they made a "Den of Iniquity" of their classroom in which they dared kids to steal their pirate treasure candy. Way cool!

While most LDS communities hold Trunk-or-Treat with car trunks, Eugene's fall weather is too wet and cold to facilitate such an attempt. We hold our parties inside the church and have people decorate classrooms so that kids can trick-or-treat door to door. We had music and carnival games in the gym. Claire thought that it was amazing to see a lit and crowded gym, since she often spends the majority of church dancing there in the dark.

Shaw or Shoe?

Further Explorations of Eugene

This is just outside our front door. A rainstorm took out the beautiful leaves last night so I am glad we took this picture. Notice Claire's cute "fish dress"--she loves to poke the pattern and (loudly) proclaim, "Fweeshh!" all through Church.
The sun peeks through the forest at the base of Spencer Butte in Eugene (our complex, Spencer View is named for Spencer Butte, the highest point in Eugene).
The trail gets steep at the end, but it's not a bad hike at all. We did it in two hours at a very leisurely pace and we all had colds. There wasn't any huffing and puffing, just lovely cool fresh air and awesome mushrooms (of course!).
Adam and Claire are kings of the hill.
This marker denotes the summit of Eugene City proper.
We were above the cloud layer, but you could view stunning fall colors through the breaks.
Adam and Claire look at our apartment from above.
Claire mugs for the camera.
An "Earth Star" mushroom. These are about the size of a silver half dollar. Adam read about them in one of our guidebooks and we were surprised and delighted to find a real one!

The Walker Extraordinaire

Munchie waits at the front door for something fun to happen.
Claire is surprisingly steady. I think we're going to need a "leash" by the holidays. She has no compunction against tearing off down unknown hallways at playgroup.

Claire Video Potpourri

All created during the cabin fever most children endure for General Conference...


Claire was so exhausted from being naughty that when we went mushroom hunting after conference, she fell asleep in the pack. Note the little arm coming out of my head. Also check out the awesome cauliflower mushroom I found--it was fantastic sauteed in butter with these Chanterelles!

Dance Dance Revolution

Claire also digs Cajun zydeco, Viennese waltzes and Polynesian drum music---she is absolutely hilarious!

The Ranchus are Here!

Wee Chicken Tikka (Orange) and Moist von Lipwig (Gold) check out their digs.
Panda was acquired as a sort of aquarium canary. He didn't kick, so the water's fine!
Claire does all her own stunts and make-up.

In this clip, selected for cuteness rather than clarity necessarily, note the four tank stars: "Rowsdower, Zap Rowsdower" the Emerald Corydora who is too fast and furious for still shots elswhere, "Panda" the Comet Goldfish, various nerite snails, and of course "Moist von Lipwig" in gold and "Wee Chicken Tikka" with a yeller belly. Ranchus are especially awesome because they don't have dorsal fins and therefore swim more like marine mammals. These two are very young. In a couple of years, they'll be the size of Russet Burbanks and have a bulbous mane called a "wen." A Ranchu is called the "King of Goldfish" in Japan for the breed's awesomeness.

Example of an adult Ranchu. Note the rosy chubby cheeks!

Claire the Dog

Thank you to Hooma and Hannah for this fantastic Halloween costume! Claire thinks it should be everyday wear (literally). She likes to bark at our fish and she carries the cardboard picture of a model child wearing the suit like it's a holy relic. Strange but darling...