Halloween in the Land of Eternal Summer

Halloween, without the crisp air, the crunch of leaves or the glow of silly jack-o-laterns, is just not the same. But we made the best of it.

The kids' school did a Halloween fest on Friday, which Nick helped plan and set up for - he was also a "resident" of the haunted house, where he scared people all night! Over at the embassy, we held a door-decorating contest, and the kids went trick-or-treating to all the different offices.

I finally got my pictures loaded, but they're all mixed through each other, along with some non-Halloween shots. So I captioned them for you.

Natalie, our sweet little cupcake

Olivia has her face painted at the school Halloween fest

SSgt Tambrini, US Marine Corps

Trick-or-treat time at the embassy; Olivia was Laura Ingalls

(my coworker Patrea is in the neon wig!)

The embassy kids (most of them)

The cupcake is getting away!

This is the scariest ladder I have ever seen! Ladders are

not supposed to bend!

You can get some local garments at the Super Boutique, including

boubous - that's what the men wear here

???

Time for bed

And we're back to the cupcake, this time at the school fest

Baseball player Alex chooses a prize. Behind the table

is Ms Megan, Olivia's teacher

I took a lot of pictures of her I guess

Olivia, the girl who loves costumes, as Heidi

Don't let this guy scare you; Mr Barry is

the kids' French teacher and they love him!

Alex and his friend Shims