Unexpected Halloween Twist

Every once in a while my kids will do something that just amazes me. That happened last night on Halloween.

I took the day off so I could be with the kids yesterday. However, I wound up going to work for a few hours. I need to bank a few extra hours for upcoming stuff. My daughter decided that she wanted to come to work with me. She was welcomed by a big box of donuts in the break room!

After I sorted through things to get my coworkers ready for the night, we drove home. We had about an hour before it was time to trick or treat, so we all enjoyed dinner together.

The temperatures were not too cold, unlike the last couple years. It was windy, which made it feel chillier than it was. As you know, the kids have been on the mend, so we made sure to dress them warm.

My wife is all about matching. This year, we “coupled” based on their costumes. Andrew was a fireman. Naturally, the fireman had to have a Dalmatian dog. Mommy was happy to help.

Ella was Wonder Woman, and needed someone to help her fight off the candy stealing criminals. I was happy to step in as “Bat-Dad!”

This year we opted not to take the wagon with us, so that meant we were all walking. We got one half of our street done and made our way to the next one over. About halfway down, Ella decided that she wanted to go home. We completely understood, and it was decided that Andrew and I would keep going.

A few minutes later, my phone rang. I had told the folks at work to call if they had any questions about the night. It wasn’t work. It was Sam.

“You locked the door.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You have the key!”

“Uh, yeah, I do.”

So Andrew and I walked back home to let them in the house. When we got back home, he said he wanted to stay home. I was surprised. I thought for sure he’d want to go back out, but he didn’t.

We had a big bowl of candy from past trunk or treats. Sam thought it would be a good idea to pass it out to the kids walking. So we went on the porch and passed out candy. They kids LOVED being able to give candy to the kids. Now here is the unexpected twist…

As we were getting to the bottom of the candy bowl, we said we’d have to go inside. The kids both grabbed their candy buckets and dumped them into the bowl. We asked if they were sure they wanted to do that, and they said they were.

Every time someone walked up to our house, they’d run over to them and hand them sweets. The joy and excitement on their faces and those who were receiving the candy was worth it. When we finally ran out of candy and went inside, we asked they why they gave away their candy. Ella said, “I like sharing.”

Sam and I couldn’t be more proud of them!

Halloween Recap

Halloween 2022 is now behind us. The day started with me and the kids getting our flu shots. I, of course, waited until the last possible minute to get mine for work.

As we drove home, one of the neighbors had put up a HUGE inflatable pumpkin. Ella saw it from the window, and despite the fact that it was raining, insisted that we go down to look at it. Thankfully, it was only a couple houses away. When she got up close to it, she couldn’t believe how big it was!

Sam took last night off from work and we were all able to walk the neighborhood to trick or treat last night. Trick or Treating in our city started at 5pm. We had napped late in the afternoon and by the time we had dinner, we didn’t get out in the neighborhood until around 5:30.

Despite it being a bit misty, the temperatures weren’t too bad. Last year, it was SO cold I brought Ella home early. This year, she was gung ho to do the whole neighborhood – and she had a BLAST!

This was the busiest Halloween I’ve seen in our neighborhood. There were kids of all ages, too! I loved seeing the families who dressed up together. One of our neighborhood families dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz. It was awesome.

Ella wanted to go to every house! She loved seeing the pumpkins lit up and all of the costumes. What was really sweet was that there were neighbors who recognized us from our daily walks and they would give her extra candy.

We did let Andrew venture out on foot once or twice, but he was running all over the place, so we wound up having to put in back in the stroller. He didn’t seem to mind, however, as that is where much of the candy was …

I was impressed that the kids did the entire neighborhood! When we got home, we took Andrew’s costume off because it had chocolate all over it!! We got in the car and drove to Sam’s mom and dad’s. They had special treats for them when we arrived.

It was almost 8 when we got there and on the drive we talked about how foggy it was! It was truly spooky. It wasn’t that foggy by our house, but it was crazy foggy on the way to her folks. Perfect for Halloween. The fog lasted well into the morning, as a friend posted this picture of downtown Detroit:

When we finally left Sam’s folks to head home, we both decided we were hungry. I veered off the diet as the only thing open was McDonalds. The kids had chicken nuggets, Sam had a Big Mac, and I grabbed a Filet of Fish Sandwich. It was probably not the best thing to eat that late, and probably explains the weird dreams I had, but overall, the day was a great one with the family!