Halloween 2009

Happy Hallow-wing! At least, that's how Luke has been saying it. My parents got to join us this year for the first time since his very first Halloween when he was 3 weeks old. Even Kitty got a costume this year. I whipped this up in about an hour on Halloween afternoon during rest time.



We thought we might take him actual house to house trick-or-treating for the first time this year. At our house closing on Thursday, the now-former owner of our new house mentioned that the neighborhood has a Halloween parade every year, with a fire truck and everything, that essentially starts right in front of the new house. He said it started at 5 PM, so we aimed to get there around 4:30. We figured that would give us time to get Luke into costume and get out there in time, plus my parents would get to see the new house. I also thought it was very nice of the owner, since technically we didn't take possession of the house until Sunday night, but he said we could come by to see the house and go to the parade on Saturday.

When we arrived around 4:20 or so, there were actually 3 fire trucks already there, and they were blocking the whole street. We could not get to our house! We had to park a block or so away and walk. There were tons of parents and kids already liked up on the cold and rainy afternoon, so we hustled to try and get Luke ready. I think we were ready just after 4:30 (no later than 4:40, I know for sure), but the parade had already left. I can't help but think that all the parents saw all the other parents they expected to see were already there, so they decided to go on and go. Luke was disappointed, but he handled it well.

The mall where we usually go trick-or-treating was just a few miles away, so we headed out there instead. I knew it was going to be pretty crazy as usual, then add in the rain and the fact that it was Saturday, and chaos was bound to ensue. This year, it was scheduled to run from 5-7 PM. I knew to be there early, since last year places started giving out candy early and many were out by 5:30 or so. Apparently they got enough complaints last year that most places at 4:50 were saying "it doesn't start until 5 PM, and we can't give out candy until then." (Some were doing it anyway, but most were not.) BUT, over half the places were *still* out of candy by 5:20, which is inexcusable! There was some increase over the usual crowd, but not enough to account for that. A couple of the stores were new, so I can excuse them for not having any real understanding about how many kids there were going to be. But the places that have been there for at least 5 years? They have no excuse for running out of candy in less than 30 minutes, other than simply choosing to not buy enough (or even close to enough) candy.

I would like to give a special shout-out to Sears for not only having candy but for having many spare bags *and* for having an employee say as we were leaving "we have 4 bags left, but I'm not sure that will be enough, I'll go get some more." They were also some of the friendliest, smiling at the kids instead of just throwing candy in the bucket with scowls on their faces. Still, I feel really bad for the families we passed who were just coming in at 5:40 as we were leaving. I'm not sure even a quarter of the places had any left by then. I hope their kids had fun anyway. Ours sure seemed to. I present Boba Fett Luke, the most feared cutest bounty hunter in the land!



And after we got home and Luke was in bed, I played around with the camera some. Here are our five happy haunts! Left to right: our Pirates of the Caribbean skull bowl, the pumpkin DH carved (see October 25 photo), Luke's Boba Fett helmet, the Mickey Mouse trick or treating bucket that Mom and Dad bought for Luke this year, and Luke's pumpkin bucket (which is the one he decided to actually trick or treat with when given the choice). I think it's quite good for a hand held tricky exposure night shot! Kudos to my mom for figuring out to put the flashlights into the desk drawers to up-light the bowl and the bucket on the ends.



Currently feeling: ghoulish