Contradictions

I was talking to my 14 year old daughter Madison the other day about Halloween. We were laughing about how strange a holiday it is. Consider the following...

1. You encourage your kids to visit the homes of strangers
2. You encourage your kids to take candy from said strangers
3. Your encourage your kids to threaten the strangers ("Trick or treat" is a threat)
4. You encourage your kids to put on clothes disguising their true identity
5. You encourage your kids to wander the neighborhood in the dark while wearing their disguise
6. You encourage your kids to consume massive amounts of refined sugar

ANY other day of the year any one of the above would be a punishable offense.

Not Halloween.

Perhaps that is why it is so much fun.

Hiking

Sam and I are going hiking on Thursday. We are going with some other youth from church and their dads to the Sipsey Wilderness Area here in Alabama. We are pretty pumped about our trip. Sam and I have done a lot of car camping, but this will be our first hiking trip together. I have hiked the Red River gorge in Eastern Kentucky and also a portion of the Appalachian trail last spring and I am completely hooked on it. I am hoping Sam will be hooked as well. It looks like we will cover approximately 13 miles this trip. We tried on our gear this morning and Sam was completely freaked about our micro-tent for two. We set it up this morning and climbed in together and he got claustrophobic. It does resemble a casket of sorts which does give one pause.