While an eventful and exciting time for children everywhere, Halloween is downright exhausting. I worked through lunch and left the office early to go pick up the munchkins. We dashed off to their aunt’s office to transform into a very serious ninja (Jake) and a pirate willing to make you walk the plank (Emma).
A quick photo shoot with their aunt and then we raced off to my office to make the rounds before it closed. The kiddos were a hit and went from cubicle to cubicle and office to office trick or treating and demonstrating their sword fighting skills. On second thought, perhaps the swords were not the best idea for the office environment.
What we were thinking getting them costumes that came with swords, I do not know. Emma’s scabbard was a big as she was, and she wielded it with authority as she threatened victims with death if they did not hand over an adequate amount of candy. Jake has watched many (and I do mean MANY) PowerRanger episodes and was quite confident his mad Ninja skills would scare the most secure of heart into giving him more chocolate.
El Hubbo arrived, and we greeted him in the parking lot. As we were discussing the plan and timing (all such events for me are basically strategic war games that must be planned with utmost attention to detail) a gentleman called out to ask us if we were there to trick or treat. We said yes, and he said, “I don’t think it starts for a bit, follow me to my office, and I’ll get you some candy.” This was very nice of him, so we did. As we were walking, I inspected our leader a little closer and noticed that he was wearing a bathrobe with a rope tie and slippers. He led us into the basement of a neighboring building and the thought crossed my mind that this is how most really bad horror films start……innocent family on outing meets seemingly benign “helpful” man who turns out to be a psycho-killer. I started working on my exit strategy – I figured I could surely outrun El Hubbo with his gimpy hip and all. Emma had her sword (and an incredible amount of innate meanness) and Jake swears he has ninja skills. So, every man, woman, child for themselves! We collected our treats, thankfully with no tricks, and quickly found our way back out to the sunlight.
We decided my office would be a good place for a break to wait until the festivities began. The kids were excited and almost climbing the walls. Earlier in the day, the office had hosted its own “Trick or Treat” for the staff and there was left-over candy on my conference table. I told the kids, “Do not take any of that candy – you will get enough when you are trick or treating.” El Hubbo and I were visiting and catching up on the day and managed to catch the pirate snagging candy and trying to hide it in her bucket. I asked, “Emma, what are you doing?” She looked at me with her one eye not covered with a patch and said, “I didn’t do it.” It was hard not to laugh as I asked her, “Didn’t do what?” She grins and says, “Nothing. I didn’t do it.” Apparently she will be headed to political office – she’s perfect. She chooses a costume that celebrates stealing, and then when caught: denies, denies, denies. Should have just put her in a suit and slicked back her hair.
The time finally came to head to Safe Treat. Safe Treat is hosted by the residence hall association and the college students have candy and the kids go up and down the dorm halls trick or treating and playing games. Emma was a big hit as instead of “trick or treat” she would say, “AAARGH – Give me my treasure, matey!”
One college student showed great initiative by creating his own transformer costume. He sat in the hallway disguised as a tank and then transformed into a robot. Jake loved it at first, but then upon closer inspection informed the poor guy that he was not a real transformer and that he was just made of boxes and tape. I felt sorry for the guy and thought that perhaps I should see if he wanted to join my “This child is smarter than me and burst my bubble” club.
We were greeted at one door by a girl in a firefighter costume. Well, that might be over-describing it. I thought to myself that someone must have forgotten to inform her that small children might be coming through and costumes should be “G” rated. Or at least “PG” rated. I’d have even settled for a “PG-13” rather than the “R”, possibly “X” rated costume we were exposed to. I had to restrain El Hubbo as he started to push his children aside to do his own trick-or-treating, but despite the fact that her treats were all on display, I managed to use my mental superpowers (ok, that and a quick kick to the shins) to bring El Hubbo back from the brink of destruction.
Lugging incredibly full buckets of candy, we made our way out of that dorm and were met by a creepy Victorian vampire. He throws a shopping bag of candy down on the ground and Emma and Jake pounce on it like ducks on junebugs. Creepy guy quickly realizes his mistake and reaches down to try to wrestle the bag away, but not before Emma manages to take four good handfuls of candy. He scowls at us and I grab the candy from Emma and Jake and dispose of it as I was pretty sure this was the kind of guy who might “enhance” the candy with not-so-good things.
We unload the buckets in the car and then head to the “Boo Bus” to go to more dorms. At the next one, Jake and Emma met Capt. America and became fast friends. He led them to different games and of course they scored more candy. We headed back to the Boo Bus and decided that maybe we should go hit the relative’s homes before it was too late. More candy was received and then it was time for the pirate and the ninja to go home to rest for the next day’s battles.
El Hubbo and I are now faced with the task of hiding the candy and managing a dispensing system that will not result in our having to scrape our children from the ceiling. We also must locate the swords the kids have hidden before they destroy our house or possibly send someone to the hospital with a missing eye.
So, that is it – our Halloween experience for 2011. El Hubbo has decided that he will be happy to plan the trick-or-treating experience for 2012. I suspicion it will involve a return to a certain dorm room. His tactical error was leaving me in charge of costumes. Oh the possibilities........
A quick photo shoot with their aunt and then we raced off to my office to make the rounds before it closed. The kiddos were a hit and went from cubicle to cubicle and office to office trick or treating and demonstrating their sword fighting skills. On second thought, perhaps the swords were not the best idea for the office environment.
What we were thinking getting them costumes that came with swords, I do not know. Emma’s scabbard was a big as she was, and she wielded it with authority as she threatened victims with death if they did not hand over an adequate amount of candy. Jake has watched many (and I do mean MANY) PowerRanger episodes and was quite confident his mad Ninja skills would scare the most secure of heart into giving him more chocolate.
El Hubbo arrived, and we greeted him in the parking lot. As we were discussing the plan and timing (all such events for me are basically strategic war games that must be planned with utmost attention to detail) a gentleman called out to ask us if we were there to trick or treat. We said yes, and he said, “I don’t think it starts for a bit, follow me to my office, and I’ll get you some candy.” This was very nice of him, so we did. As we were walking, I inspected our leader a little closer and noticed that he was wearing a bathrobe with a rope tie and slippers. He led us into the basement of a neighboring building and the thought crossed my mind that this is how most really bad horror films start……innocent family on outing meets seemingly benign “helpful” man who turns out to be a psycho-killer. I started working on my exit strategy – I figured I could surely outrun El Hubbo with his gimpy hip and all. Emma had her sword (and an incredible amount of innate meanness) and Jake swears he has ninja skills. So, every man, woman, child for themselves! We collected our treats, thankfully with no tricks, and quickly found our way back out to the sunlight.
We decided my office would be a good place for a break to wait until the festivities began. The kids were excited and almost climbing the walls. Earlier in the day, the office had hosted its own “Trick or Treat” for the staff and there was left-over candy on my conference table. I told the kids, “Do not take any of that candy – you will get enough when you are trick or treating.” El Hubbo and I were visiting and catching up on the day and managed to catch the pirate snagging candy and trying to hide it in her bucket. I asked, “Emma, what are you doing?” She looked at me with her one eye not covered with a patch and said, “I didn’t do it.” It was hard not to laugh as I asked her, “Didn’t do what?” She grins and says, “Nothing. I didn’t do it.” Apparently she will be headed to political office – she’s perfect. She chooses a costume that celebrates stealing, and then when caught: denies, denies, denies. Should have just put her in a suit and slicked back her hair.
The time finally came to head to Safe Treat. Safe Treat is hosted by the residence hall association and the college students have candy and the kids go up and down the dorm halls trick or treating and playing games. Emma was a big hit as instead of “trick or treat” she would say, “AAARGH – Give me my treasure, matey!”
We were greeted at one door by a girl in a firefighter costume. Well, that might be over-describing it. I thought to myself that someone must have forgotten to inform her that small children might be coming through and costumes should be “G” rated. Or at least “PG” rated. I’d have even settled for a “PG-13” rather than the “R”, possibly “X” rated costume we were exposed to. I had to restrain El Hubbo as he started to push his children aside to do his own trick-or-treating, but despite the fact that her treats were all on display, I managed to use my mental superpowers (ok, that and a quick kick to the shins) to bring El Hubbo back from the brink of destruction.
Lugging incredibly full buckets of candy, we made our way out of that dorm and were met by a creepy Victorian vampire. He throws a shopping bag of candy down on the ground and Emma and Jake pounce on it like ducks on junebugs. Creepy guy quickly realizes his mistake and reaches down to try to wrestle the bag away, but not before Emma manages to take four good handfuls of candy. He scowls at us and I grab the candy from Emma and Jake and dispose of it as I was pretty sure this was the kind of guy who might “enhance” the candy with not-so-good things.
El Hubbo and I are now faced with the task of hiding the candy and managing a dispensing system that will not result in our having to scrape our children from the ceiling. We also must locate the swords the kids have hidden before they destroy our house or possibly send someone to the hospital with a missing eye.
So, that is it – our Halloween experience for 2011. El Hubbo has decided that he will be happy to plan the trick-or-treating experience for 2012. I suspicion it will involve a return to a certain dorm room. His tactical error was leaving me in charge of costumes. Oh the possibilities........
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