Halloween

Bye-bye October, hello November! How is everyone? I should title this the Post-Halloween Post because that's what I've got for you today. Please excuse the very amateur photography. Different cameras were used and not much attention was paid to detail. I'm losing my touch I think!

We carved pumpkins. ha ha! Little ones anyway. Martha Stewart (and her gang) I am not.

Hers:

[source]

Mine:

 *snort*

I could only find glow-in-the-dark teeth and tried to paint glow-in-the-dark eyes (which is the white part you see -- it was drying) but for some reason they didn't turn out. Oh well. Things were still festive around here with other decorations (sorry, no pic).

For Halloween, YS2 dressed up as a train engineer (he loves Thomas the Train). I finally found his hat a couple hours before we headed out. I knew I should've bought it when I first came across it but held out for something better. Something better wasn't found (either too big or too small) so a Thomas & Friends hat it was -- still cute.

He can be a tough sell when it comes to hats. He'll wear them when there's a purpose. Such as, he's outside when it's cold or snowy or rainy. He won't wear a hat, or rarely, just because. But, an engineer wears a hat. At first, he wasn't having anything to do with it. Once I showed him pics online of little kids dressed as train engineers with a hat, he got on board with it. In fact, at one point I asked him if he wanted to take it off. Uh. The answer was a big fat no. ha ha!

The whole trick-r-treating thing is still a relatively foreign event for him. I mean, it's not like it happens every day, right? I explained to him about Halloween and going door to door. I was met with looks of whatever mom. And candy? Still something he doesn't eat but after he got his first piece at the first house we went to, he promptly told me candy is num nums. He didn't eat it but just figured out that this is a treat. He's no dummy.

Fortunately, it was a great night to T-or-T. A little chilly but not too bad and not raining (or snow like some of you had -- yikes)! Yee haw!

I wanted to take him to a particular neighborhood where one house is completely decked out for all major holidays and Halloween is the ultimate. Yup, I drove out of my way so Caleb could have the full experience.

We drove up and saw we were far from the only ones with the same idea. This house draws scores and scores of people from all around, known as the Halloween House. I wonder how much candy, in terms of cost and pounds, they invest each year? I can't even begin to imagine. No doubt they are shopping right this very minute picking up tons of marked down Halloween candy for next year. Like any kid cares that it's old. I don't because we're there for the experience anyway.

We stopped at the first house to get warmed up. YS2 is funny. He's shy but then again, he's not. He doesn't hide behind me; he'll stay close but he has no problem standing front and center. He'd have no problem walking in their house, taking extra candy, petting their dog (when permitted) or giving the dog candy (no-no to the chocolate, sweet boy -- whoops, that was close). The only thing: he won't say things on command to strangers so 'trick or treat' was never uttered. Neither was 'thank you.' He can say those things but only on his terms. Oh well, maybe next year. :)

We then went to the Halloween House. I always think, where do they store this stuff? It's not just Halloween but Thanksgiving, Easter, and of course, Christmas. Anyways...

Because there is so much stuff going on there with ghosts, graveyards, music and all manner of scary, YS2 wasn't too sure about this place. We practically walked the perimeter of the house (they decorate the WHOLE house -- these pics only show about two-thirds, I'm not kidding), walked up the steps, almost at the door when he wouldn't go any further. He said he was scared so we left and as we were walking away he told me it was a "really really scary house." Aw, I don't want him to be scared! Poor baby.

We hit more houses that weren't scary but just fun. We did end up at another scary house but he went thru with it because there were a bunch of other kids but it also was "really really scary."

We slowly scoured the neighborhood begging for candy he won't eat then headed home. He had fun except for the brief scary moments. He wanted to eat some candy but uh-uh. No way jose! I'm not naive in thinking I can keep him from candy all his life but I am putting off the inevitable experience he'll one day have. I'm sure he'll like it too but I hope that doesn't happen for a long time. (Updated to add: in exchange for candy he got two new toy trains. He had no problem with this, of course.)

green pumpkin grown in our garden

I just had a flashback from a time when I was about 9-10 years old and trick-or-treating with a couple of my friends. We stopped at one house that was on the edge of the neighborhood. Our subdivision was still fairly new too so this area wasn't as lit or populated. We're invincible at that age right? So we knocked and an older man opened the door, surprised to see us there shouting 'trick or treat!' He looked around for some candy admitting he'd forgotten it was Halloween and mumbled something about his wife not being home who normally took care of things like this. So he fumbled around looking for candy and when he couldn't, he invited us into his house! Yeah, we were crazy enough to follow him in. He looked all over his kitchen for candy, maybe he found pieces here and there, don't remember but I do remember him opening up his fridge and handing us cans of pop. Awesome! We felt like we had hit the jackpot. We left, laughing over our sweet load, drinking pop. My mom would be horrified to know (then and maybe now) that we had walked into some strangers house like that. Things you certainly wouldn't do these days.

Sorry this was bit lengthy but I had to get it all out while the memory is still fresh. Hope next year YS2 says trick or treat! :)

How was your Halloween? Did you dress up? I didn't unless you count my purple shirt. #lame. It's funny walking around on Halloween not knowing who's in costume and who's not. Sometimes it's hard to tell.