Halloween at Fleur de Lys Villa

After three years of participating in Leeward's Halloween trick or treating, Fleur de Lys Villa finally made it on the map!  The last couple of years we disappointingly watched little ghouls and goblins pass us by, despite the lantern lit drive and open front door.  Looks like the Leeward neighborhood's Halloween spirit and reputation has grown, and Sandpiper Avenue's in particular.  The most trick or treaters in years passed tallied around 25, we delighted to see that number triple this year!

So much fun to have the streets full of costumed kids laughing, "boo!"-ing eachother, holding hands or bound in big groups in anticipation of an unexpected fright from any direction. 

Our ghost did a great job of welcoming everyone at the gates!

 

Our first trick or treaters (pictured above) arrived around 5pm, receiving big handfuls of treats as I recalled the weeks worth of leftover candy in years past.   I soon wished I had not been so generous as I looked into our fast emptying bowl!  I had to resort to giving away plastic spiders from the decor while waiting for candy reinforcements!  The back up supply arrived just in the nick of time as a few clever kids had figured out how to open the front gates.  Our final trick or treater, miss adorable below, had just missed the last treat by seconds, but she was kind enough to share her bag of goodies with us instead!

Fleur de Lys Villa Bird's Eye View

It was a very busy weekend between Longbay and Leeward, bittersweet to think we will not be traversing between the two neighborhoods so often anymore.  The Beach Barn, our home away from home and pet project for the last few years, sold last July.  We sign and seal the deal in a short few days so the deadline to make our move had come.  It was eye opening to discover just how many belongings we had acquired; what seemingly appeared to be very little set against the massive floorspace of the barn, in reality was two parades by caravan of  boxtruck, two pick-ups, and an SUV!  A skytrak also joined the fleet, more to come on that topic later, but we thought while we had use of it, may as well take a few overview images of Fleur de Lys.  Utilizing a kiteboarding harness and a couple of dog leashes, I was strapped to the forks and up, up, and away!  Thanks to residual winds from hurricane Sandy it was a pretty wild ride!  The birds eye view was beautiful, and it allowed a great study of the size of the bird reserve to the north of the property.  I  had not realized it was such an impressive wetland, it stretches nearly the length of the block.  No wonder we see such variety of feathered friends at Fleur de Lys!