This is Halloween

No videos. No (good) pictures. Halloween simply wasn’t cooperating this year. Between happening on a Monday and raining for the entire afternoon/evening…well, that about sums it up.

We did get some quality hang-out time with friends. Fox got to play and I got to relax while somebody else created a tasty dinner. That part of the afternoon was pretty much perfect. When the rain made it clear that outdoor trick-or-treating wasn’t really an appropriate option, it was suggested that we take the kids to the mall where stores were handing out candy to costumed kids from 5 – 8pm. But it was already 6:30 and so close to Fox’s bedtime that I almost just took him home. Almost. But his dragon costume was so cute! And when I asked him if he was tired and ready to go read books at home, he replied, “No. Bigger!” Umm…bigger WHAT exactly? “Bigger candy in my bucket.”

Ok then. We could go for just a short bit. Maybe 5 stores and then straight home. Matt was meeting us there after a long day at work. It would be fun. Fox practiced saying “Roar! Trick-or-treat!” while we rode in the car towards the mall. Just a quick trip.

By now I’m sure you realize that this trip was not exactly what we expected. Have you ever been to a mall right around Christmas? Do you remember how long it takes to wait along with the insane traffic, to navigate the parking lot like running the gauntlet, and to walk at the slowest possible forward pace with crowds of people everywhere inside? I’m pretty sure that this was worse than that. Because I’ve been to the mall at Christmas and I think that rainy-Halloween-with-advertised-mall-trick-or-treating is WAY more crowded inside. Less angry elbows being thrown (thankfully!) but WAY more people. A quick trip to the mall this was not. But we got Fox inside and into his costume with his bucket and then….

way more people here than this picture shows

Nothing. As we followed the massive crowd of ghosts and ghouls and princesses and pirates around the upper level of the mall in clockwise fashion, we realized rather quickly that there was NO candy to be found. All of the stores had run out early because the rain brought crowds of unimaginable proportions. I’ve never seen so many empty buckets at Halloween. It was almost comical at this point. Matt & I had both left our wallets out in our respective vehicles, so we couldn’t even buy Fox a cookie like so many of the other parents were doing. I found 2 quarters in my pocket & we stopped at the candy machines with Fox’s bucket. Some Mike & Ike’s and some Skittles and then we were gone. (The return trip through the parking lot was it’s own special event, with a potty break inside the car on the little potty before continuing our journey. Still raining. Worse traffic.)

We arrived home to find a bag of treats for Fox left on our doorstep by one of our neighbors. See! We got tricks and treats this year Happy 2nd Halloween kiddo.

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