SPOOKARAMA aka Fall Fellowship

One of my lifelong friends, Leslie, along with her sweet husband Jeff and their adorable daughter BLP throw a huge party every Halloween. We celebrated yesterday which was actually after Halloween.
It originated, with the idea, that it was one big party for all of Leslie's friends' children; since she can't get to all of their birthdays (she lives 1 1/2 hours from the rest of us). So this party is a whopper of an event and a true celebration for children (of course adults enjoy it too).
When Leslie and Jeff first started hosting this party, it was called SPOOKARAMA; and it was exactly that....spooky. They didn't have their sweet little girl when SPOOKARAMA began, so they made it as spooky as it could be.
The first year we attended, we had 3 of our 5 children; and Drewby was about 8 months old. We had a blast until it started to get dark, then it got a little too spooky for our young uns liking; we even had some tears from Addi (who was 4 at the time). Each year we traveled back to SPOOKARAMA ( remember they live about 1 1/2 hours from us) for a day of fun, fellowship and FEAR!
Then perspective started to change....Leslie and Jeff became parents to BLP. Once BLP entered their lives, they decided that SPOOKARAMA shouldn't be quite so spooky. Each year, it has become less and less spooky; but it is still just as fun. This year they decided to officially change the name from SPOOKARAMA to FALL FELLOWSHIP! I love the idea of that....FALL FELLOWSHIP. That is what it has become for Leslie and Jeff. I look forward to going each year, because I get to see Leslie, Jeff and BLP; and there are usually a few of my other lifelong friends (along with their families) there as well. Our kids get to play together (which doesn't happen too often). We all eat together, play games, go on a fabulous (and a tad bit spooky) hayride, whack a pinata and end with a bonfire. It's a wonderful time to be together with our own family and our dear friends. As for the name change....I still like calling it SPOOKARAMA, and I don't know if I'll convince my family to start calling it anything else; but we know that's about the fellowship and not the spookin' (well maybe a little spookin').

**Note: Leslie, Jeff and BLP live on a private lake. The first time we went to SPOOKARAMA, they were clearing out some land; so there was a tractor on their property. Cal, who doesn't usually care for parties and doesn't like crowds, instantly migrated to that tractor and sat on it all day long. Every year since that year (2001), Jeff gets that tractor out especially for Cal. And each year, Cal gets out of our car and instantly migrates to that tractor. This year, he sat on it a lot... but he also bowled for gourds, climbed on some hay in the hay maze, rode on the hayride and gave Leslie a big hug. I know Leslie and Jeff get as much joy out of seeing Cal's progress as we do. Thanks guys for always making SPOOKARAMA special for Cal too.**