Inspiring Yard Creations in Bayview

As I mentioned in my last blog post, there were some amazing yard decorations in the neighborhood around the Pumpkin Pavilion. For those familiar with the Milwaukee area, that neighborhood was Bayview. 

I have been looking forward to sharing these photos with you guys, because it's fun to show pics of something people probably haven't seen before. So many of these are DIY creations, so you won't have seen them in stores. You may have seen some parts in stores, like the skeletons, but the displays are pretty original.

Isn't it amazing how something so simple as a mask with the right lighting can have such an effect? I think simplicity is sometimes the scariest.

Those masks were hanging on the door of this house.

This decorator knew how to work with pink and red lights! I have a feeling that every angle was tried with the lights until it was just so. 

This little pirate spook was on a fence around the backyard of the next place you're going to see. 

Boo! How great is this? This pumpkin man was super tall and on a bit of a hill, so most people would feel like they're looking up at him.

See the floating candles above the door?

Here's the entire front of this very well-lit house. 

I love the friendly ambience with the string lights and pumpkin pail, but the figure was unnerving. I really couldn't tell if he was a real guy or not.

Even as I got closer to take this pic, I was thinking "Please don't move. Please don't move." I'm 99% sure he was a prop. I am noticing a lot of beer can accessories on figures and props this year. In this case, the can was what was making me unsure about his liveliness. 

I've probably shared pics of this house in the past. I think this will be the only display you've possibly seen on here before. But I will keep sharing it every time I visit it! How can I not? I don't think I'd captured how tall the house is before, though. You can see that small upper story window lit up. Look for the "Beware of House" sign.

That part of their porch that juts out really adds to this unhinged jaw look. I love everything about this.

I feel like a little kid when I look at this porch. This is an intimidating set of stairs to climb on Trick or Treat night!

I can't decide if this porch is welcoming or not! It looks like the skeletons are having a conversation. Check out that wreath.

There were some unique inflatables out that night. I have never seen any of the following inflatables in any other yard. The Sandworm from Beetlejuice: 

Here's the full view so you can see him coiled on the ground. There are so many little parts on this one.

The Reaper:

Yes, he's holding a heart.

This one is so well lit. I'm sure this is the most vibrant red I've seen from an inflatable. 

Those are spiders crawling on the skull. And you may be able to tell that there is a big purple spider in the background.

This is a good one for "Squirrel View" as I call it. :) Lately, I've gotten some more interesting photo angles by crouching down to the ground.

I don't know how to describe what this cool tree decoration is made of. It's some type of hard, transparent material you can see lights through. I remember seeing a lot more of this style of decoration right before inflatables became the thing. I'm sure this takes less upkeep while outside, although it takes more storage space since it doesn't deflate. 

Do you see the doll face emerging from the corner? They even set up some candles inside the window. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be part of the decorations we saw from outside, but they add something being behind that skull.

I thought I'd save this guy until last because it looks like he's waving goodbye as we leave the neighborhood. This skeleton looks metallic, at least in this light. I'm pretty sure he would look gold in the daylight. Wouldn't he be perfect in a pirate display?

On the way to the car, we passed this church. I had to include these pics because even though they're not of Halloween decorations, they are still pretty dramatic and spooky.

This door looks like it could be featured in a Hammer movie.

This is a pretty great area to explore when looking for Halloween decorations. Browsing up and down these streets was actually as fun for me as the Pumpkin Pavilion. I think there was an equal amount to see! 

I love it when a whole neighborhood gets into decorating for the holidays. Surprisingly, there have been some pretty solidly decorated streets closer to home this year. Pics from those streets will be coming soon.

Halloween Night in Cedarburg! 2018

Now that you've seen what it looks like in Cedarburg on Halloween day, get ready to see what it looks like as it gets dark! Seeing Cedarburg at night was a serious treat. Talk about atmospheric!

I'm going to take you from the twilight hour to the pitch black night.

After walking around during the day, we went back to the car with our souvenirs and then returned to the street wearing our witch hats. It was a fun way to be in the spirit of things. There were some adults in full costume, but mostly not. All the kids were in costume and walking from business to business collecting treats. We were even given a few pieces of candy!

So starting with what we saw around the time the sun was going down...

We passed this building back by the car. I never noticed Moonshine Sampling at "The Shinery" before.

This guy must be up in his rocking chair all the time!

This pumpkin looks almost like the cement or stone it's resting on:

Little troublemakers:

Remember him?

I liked the way many of the shops brought the outside into their front windows. You might be able to see all the little twinkle lights in with the leaves here.

Now you can see the light is really starting to dim.

And look who is inflated now! This cat is one of those cool ones that moves its head back and forth.

I love this! He's like the Hamlet of Pumpkins.

Remember that area that had my favorite display? Well here it is lit up:

The snake now has its body!

Steampumpkins

That's a pretty detailed clock face, that I just noticed is coated in tinfoil. That must have taken a lot of time and patience. 

I thought these white pumpkins looked so pretty with different colored lights inside them. I noticed that a lot of pumpkin displays included different colored lights this year.

And how awesome are these two? They might be my favorite pumpkins of the night. Can you believe this last set of pumpkin photos all came from the same place?

Now this next place always puts up a great display. You might remember it from past years. One time they had a big, black coach with witches inside. Another year they had a huge pumpkin creature out front. 

This year they had kind of a foggy Mary Poppins theme (I think). There were umbrellas hanging with bright purple lights and a woman or creature of some sort was flying down on one of them. 

I love how Zero's nose is a mini pumpkin!

All the stages of a butterfly:

The Stagecoach Inn, which is reportedly haunted:

It's interesting that the lady out front is dressed as a bride, given the ghost story that goes with this place. You can read about the Inn's ghost, George here:

Haunted History of the Stagecoach Inn

Look how many pumpkins are lining the street! I didn't notice the figures in the black hoods before. I think they add something to the picture. 

A closer view of the pumpkins lining the street:  

There are more caramel apples here than I remembered seeing at night. There are three or four rows missing, but I thought a lot more were gone. Maybe I saw the window some time later. I could really go for one of these now!

Chomp!

Oops!

Pine tree whiskers? 

I wouldn't mind having some of these bright colored lights! I had thought they were glowsticks before, but they're giving off such a strong light. Looking through that green eye, I think I'm seeing the top of a fake candle.

I was glad to capture the movie theater in this bright blue light. I like the way the trees are reflected in it. It looks like the branches go right into the building. Normally, the front of the theater would just look black:

The Rivoli's regular, daytime look

I love what's going on with the colors in this photo! What a neat idea to go warm with the inside lights and cool with the outside lights. And with the sky just turning that bright, going on night blue, the colors really popped! How neat is that multi-color rope light?

So here's that awesome porch I shared earlier, only now very much more lit up. Those white sheets showed up more than I would have thought in the dark.

I like how that ironwork is showing up on the roof!

These two are great. That looks like The Wicked Witch of the West to me.

A firetruck was parked on the side of the road and decorated with jack-o-lanterns.

This is the head of that huge, inflatable pumpkin creature I shared before. The lights were moving around in the head.

And this is the house it was standing in front of. This is the place with the many rooms of holiday decorations for sale.

The porch kind of looks like two eyes and a big mouth.

Now we're onto my favorite house on the block! And with this angle, I think it is looking very much the haunted house. Mom and I walked up the path and were greeted with a "Welcome to the coven!" from a group of women in witch hats. 😄 You can maybe see a bit of the lit figure in the bottom window. As we got closer, we got quite the surprise.

Look at these two! And also look at that amazing ceiling.

The male vampire was petting his skeleton dog, which I just now noticed was chomping on a skeleton rat. He watched me the entire time I walked up the path and was just slooooowly petting his skeleton dog. He really did seem half alive. I'm not sure if those are hanging lights or a reflection, but don't those look like two bright vampire fangs above him?

I didn't realize he had a female companion until I was very close to the window. I decided to creep around the side of the building and take a picture from a side window. Her eye slowly rolled to the side, following me. This is how I imagine a vampire would act. This was actually creepy for real.

And then, BAM! Her head shot to the side, right at me. I was lucky to take my photo at that exact moment. 

And then she turned right back to how she was sitting, perfectly still. My mouth hung open for I don't know how long. This was scary in that fun way that I haven't felt too much as an adult. I was kind of laughing at myself for it.

The vampire moment was the highlight of the night, and how cool for the highlight to happen at my favorite house on the block! 🦇