Halloween!

My favorite holiday has came and went....Boo! What an amazing busy Halloween month it has been. In celebrating the Spirits, I made my way to Gavin's school for his Halloween parade. It was raining (in fact it rained all day yesterday), which makes for a more difficult Halloween, but the school accommodated all of us parents in the gym. It was not to pretty and there were tons of adults ready and eager to see their little people all dressed up. I was ready too, and by total luck...I was standing in the right place in line and landed myself front row access. LUCKY ME. UnLUCKY me in that I decided to video record the entire 5th grade and after they had come and went, THEN I realized I never pushed record. I missed documenting every bit of my son's class. I didn't even get pictures. On most years the kids parade around the front entrance circle so you can get pictures tons of times, this year they went through the gym in one quick rush...and it was over. I never got one single shot of my kid in the parade. Bummer. Sadly I only have a few of some of the minion teachers coming through and one of my son as we were heading home for the day.

 Smile....okay forget about it.

Since he had a 1/2 day, we were up for a little afternoon excitement. First order of business, we had to head to the library to pick up our WINNINGS! Yep...Gavin won the Zombie Survival Kit from the library. Yeah for us!!!!

 Look at all those goodies. We should be set for sure, should Zombies or anything else tragic happen.
I offered a treat out to lunch. Gavin choose Wendy's. I stepped on the scales that morning and found I lost 4 pounds and it was a special (you know we are all gonna eat some kind of junk) day. So we were off. I ordered a burger and FRIES. He did as well. I WAS SHOCKED when my FAST FOOD bill was $19- Just when did two meals from a fast food place cost as much or more then a reasonably priced sit down place? I have vowed to stay away from Wendy's. Not that I should be eating there anymore with my new healthy meal plans anyways...but WOW. Gavin thought I was over reacting....but isn't that outrageous? Next stop took us to K-Mart to find a sword for his costume and trick or treat candy for any visitor that might ring our bell before we make our own way out into the streets.
Once we had meet with our afternoon demands and a few additional things to take care of it was soon time to head to our friend Carol's home to keep up the trick or treat tradition. (At least it has been the tradition since we moved to Liverpool about 6 years ago...) It is usually the only time a year I get to see my High School friend Brenda and her son, who is Gavin's age. (I'm not sure why we don't see them other times during the year. We just don't seem to hook up. ) She was not here this year however...maybe next.
Off to Carol's where we met up with Carol; her two boys. Stacey and Eddy; their three son's, Serena and two of her three children.  In addition this year was one of Carol's neighbors whose son is actually in Gavin's class at school. Evan. I cannot remember his parents names (sorry). A few pictures of all the kids (we missed getting Serena's two)...and we were off to the streets.

Interesting crew wouldn't you say?
In walking the kids hit up houses, while the adults mingle along slowly catching up and discussing our own trick or treating days. Stacey and I both agreed that our kids were so far from the trick or treating MASTERS we were as children. She and I discussed our personal strategies...My main goal was to score the most treats possible in the time allotted (I was always told til 9pm) and my bestie friend Lynne and I would run from house to house like we were in a race with the devil himself. Our treat bags (ALWAYS a Pillowcase so it would not break) would weigh so much by the end of the night we would have to slow down just to lug the extra poundage. Stacey was in agreement with my strategy, she recalled she did the same.

I commented to Stacey and Eddy how by the time I was about 7...my parents stopped walking with me and we were on our own, Eddy remarked what a different age it is and there are creepers out there. So true.
We can not just let our kids just run the streets, like when we were young.

Our kids have their parents walking with them, and for some strange reason, they don't have the same NEED as I did as a kid. They really could care less about filling those bags. We started out at about 6:45 and were on our way back skipping houses on our return by 7:30. Gavin usually poops out sooner then most and last year we left well before the rest of the families did. This year, although he stopped visiting houses we all made it back to Carol's around the same time. Maybe our kids get enough treats through out the year, that a few extra houses is not as critical as when I was young.

A few pictures of "our" gang walking the streets.

 Mark walking Riley.

In past years mother nature has predicted how we manage our trick or treating ventures. This year it was raining, so there were a lot of wet feet and soaked costumes. This was one of the deterrents for continuing and we were soon calling it quits. At least it wasn't snowing. Carol's neighbors used to have a haunted house along the way as well, and they no longer do it. There was also another house along her route that was decked to the hill, and they didn't so that this year either. Oh well, the fun was in the company. As we were heading back I nudged Gavin to hit up a few more houses. He declined noting he had his favorites back home. Yes, we did still have the candy I had bought earlier and only had handed out about five pieces, so he fortunately has three bags full of his favorite candy bars.
All wet, tired and despite the lack (in my opinion) of houses hit, although his bag (pillow case) was mighty full, we headed home the car reeking of wet dog. Once we made it home I forgot we had movies to return so Gavin and I were back out the door. As I entered the Family video I was greeted with a Halloween special. ALL video rental for the night was $1- including new releases. What? Maybe we could rent one, so I ask....because I have been waiting for this one. Do you happen to have The Black Delhia Haunting in stock? Yes as a matter of fact they did. I rush over to the B section ready to grab and go. CAN YOU BELIEVE the couple right next to me, had just taken it. I even said to the guy...."You did NOT just take that video did you......" Bummer!!! Instead Gavin and I rented The Internship and he found some movie about his favorite video game characters The Assassin's Creed. Bummed about the missed movie, but excited to watch what we did get I was even MORE excited that my rental fee cost me 54 cents. It doesn't totally make up for the $19- Wendy's lunch, but hey we scored a bag of trick or treat candy (for FREE) and enjoyed a recent released movie plus one for Gavin for 54 cents. Cant go wrong there.
Gavin and I did stay up and watched The Internship and laughed our fool heads off. We didn't even turn on the porch light for those late night trick or treater's to come and interrupt us either.
Next year I am going to make sure we get to a REAL haunted house, reserve a Halloween camp site early  and I am going to commit to a Zombie run. I might even start on a costume this week. Okay maybe not the costume.....but perhaps. I have scored some of my best costumes at the CLEARANCE racks the days after Halloween in the past.
Hope your Halloween was as ENJOYABLE as ours.