Halloween past....

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Well, Halloween has been and gone for another year. And the weather was excellent.

It was a weird evening for a couple of reasons. First off, our two older daughters went off with their friends for the first time ever. Call us protective parents I don't care. But we of course didn't allow them to go too far away with all the craziness that occurs on Halloween. We gave them a 9:00 curfew for the evening and told them that they couldn't go further than 7 miles away, a small town in the area. We just had to have some semblence of parental control you know. They left here at 6:00 with a kiss from each, strict rules, and a 'You better be going where you say your going' warning. They were gone.

Pat and I were left with the two younger ones and the question of where we would take them. Our usual stomping ground was the final decision. Local gas station, video store, pizza place and off we went. We discovered a VERY crowded neighborhood a couple of years ago across the river. I cannot believe all the kids in this area. Last year houses had run out of candy before 7:00. It's like walking through a crowded grocery store at times there are so many. Cars are everywhere and the occasional dummy driving like its just a normal day with no kids running around.

Well, our little boy, the ninja was all gung ho to 'trick or treat please' and yelling thank you while soaring off the stoop of each house. The last few years we have had to lecture the older girls for taking off in a run and leaving the little guy behind so they could see who would get to the door first. NOT last night. Our 10 year old daughter was the one playing catch-up all night and we were lecturing the boy. She was telling him to wait and to slow down until about 1//2 way through the loop. During the first half we kept telling our son to stop running because we had a ways to go and didn't want him to tire out. Well, he of course ignored these warnings and continued on in excitement.

We got down one half of the block, crossed the road and the kids went to two houses on that side. Upon meeting us back on the road, the little guy dropped hard to the ground but held tight to that bucket. I chuckled because I had seen that he was slowing down a little or maybe it was a lot. He lay there a moment and we said 'Come on, get up, you're not done' and he looked up with an 'ooooh' and said, 'I fainted because I'm so tired' as he forced himself up off the ground. I laughed because it just amazes me how suddenly kids out of the blue use words that just aren't in their vocabulary normally.

So, we trudged on and upon hitting the last house on that particular road, a cop pulled up and we thought that there was trouble brewing because shortly after another cop was pulling onto the road. There were groups of adults and children everywhere so we started to wonder what was going on. It happened to be a cop that Pat knew through his newspaper job in Wisconsin. She used to be a trooper and he said that she was quite a cranky person. Last night however she was in a local car and bubbly as could be.

I left Pat to chat while the kids were coming back from the last house and turned to ask if there was trouble and he laughed and said ''Here, I got you a treat'' and handed me some M & M's. I looked at him funny and he said, ''She's here to hand out candy to all the kids". I was a little thrown by that because aren't cops normally cruising around looking for trouble makers? It was Halloween after all. But then I said, "Wow, that is really nice. Living in a small area does mean something after all". We sent our kids over to get some goodies and our daughter politely took one piece and then our son, well, he grabbed a huge handful. 8 mini bags of M & M's. I apologized profusely while replacing them and she said while laughing, "I thought that bag got light in a hurry". Then she was quickly surrounded by about 20 screaming kids.

By the end of the night, the two little ones were quite exhausted as were Pat and myself. My night wasn't over of course, I still needed to go to the grocery store. It's all good though.
I sat on the floor with the kids and checked their candy over, pocketed much of it because they didn't like it or they were just being my sweethearts and know that I have an immense sweet tooth. Each year we sit on the floor and count the candy, an old tradition I'm sure for many. Our floor was pretty empty without the older two there with their candy but the younger ones counted about 105 pieces each.

After I got my treats, watched 'Jacked Up' and helped get them off to bed, I went to run my errands. I came home and my two older daughters were here again, thank God, safe and sound and full of tales about their night. They got 176 pieces and aren't as nice about sharing. Meanies.
Overall, it was a nice relaxing night aside from the walking. I hope everyone else had a safe and candiful Halloween.

Written by louie0768 .