Halloween Report

It's been a busy weekend. On Saturday, Dutch and I went with friends to The Pumpkin Patch again (we try to go every year) on Sauvie Island.* Dutch rode the Cow Train again. I asked her if she wanted to go alone or have me come with, and she told me she'd probably enjoy it less if I came along.

And this is a random tickle session from yesterday...

Today Cook and Dutch carved the pumpkins and she wore her costume all day. She went through many costume ideas in the last few weeks, but finally settled securely on Laura Ingalls. She was thrilled with it, and even more thrilled that many people actually correctly guessed her identity. (Several people guessed that she was Little Bo Peep. One guy said "You must be an Old-Fashioned Girl From the Old Days!" and she just nodded. There's no point in setting people right when there's more candy to be hunted down.)

Dutch is a cautious trick-or-treater, not surprisingly, tiptoeing anxiously up to the doors while other kids sprint confidently past her and bang on the door for the loot they feel they deserve. She also had the bejeezus scared out of her by some spooky decorations and costumed adults - once she jumped about a foot in the air, making me laugh so hard I could barely hang onto my candy-laden bag. (The bag started the evening carrying just my keys and a warm hat, but it quickly became clear that it was going to have to be candy-toting backup for Dutch's small, costume-appropriate basket - I felt like some sort of terrible Halloween pimp, standing on the sidewalk like Fagin while Dutch poured candy into my bulging bag and then trotted off to add to my haul).

I love Halloween. I love that everybody's out on the street, and you can go up to people's houses and knock on their doors, and then they OPEN the door and you get to see a little glimpse of their lives, and they give you things. That's just awesome. Happy Halloween!

*Why, yes, we got our pumpkins the day before Halloween. So?