Friday night brought our city's Halloween Parade-- trick or treating at the local businesses in the city center and lining up by age group to be judged by the mayor and others for the best costume award. (JAM won in 2006 for his, dare I say it, AWESOME costume pictured in this post of old. Yes, I felt ridiculously proud of that award, especially with my crafty-gene deficiency, and all.)
So, my little Fisherman, his catch of the day Mermaid, and the completely unrelated Clone Trooper queued up in their respective lines, and I was freaking thrilled that Pudge and Red were in the same group, because last year was a challenge of logistics, I tell you. But finally the time came to start parading, and as I looked around at all the familiar and friendly faces of our community, I took a moment just to be so happy and thankful for where we live. After gathering their treats, the kids settled down to watch the always fantastic circus show put on by the beloved Greg May. They took a break near the beginning of the show to announce the best costume winners, and apparently the pickings were slim this year, since Pudge's costume of raincoat, boots, borrowed rain pants and fishing pole (consisting of two pool-toy fish, some rope and a stick from our front lawn) pulled down the best costume prize for the 1.5-3 year old set. While I felt all deserving years ago for JAM's costume, I just felt like a poseur going up with my little fisherman this year. You gotta check out the other winners, though-- especially Frida Kahlo!
For round two on actual Halloween night, the kids went door to door getting chocolate for their mom (AKA trick-or-treating) with a bunch of pals and their mamas and papas, which is always fun in our dear city. This was the fifth year that we joined up with friends in a different section of town to walk about their neighborhood-- with many townhomes in close proximity, fantastic walking paths, and the friendliest neighborhood feeling everywhere, it's easy to walk for a while without having to go too far. This year, the crew was looking good, and even two of the papas dressed up. If you have any familiarity with Kevin Smith movies, you'll have to appreciate that their versions were pretty good!
As the drizzle started, we gathered the costumed kids for a group shot, showing off their cool looks and approximately a good-sized adult's body weight in candy. (Disregard the hulking figure crouched down behind the shy mermaid who refused to get in the picture by herself...)
All in all, a very festive Halloween, and as my digestive tract can attest to tonight, enough candy to sustain a stomach ache everyday for the whole month.
Happy Free Candy Day to you all from me, Red the mermaid, Pudge the fisherman, and the Star Wars-obsessed JAM,
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