Rewinding back to Halloween, Z and I got up early and I gave him his Halloween basket. For most of Z's life I didn't let him have much (if any) of the candy he collected while trick or treating, and instead gave him a few small presents. Now he is allowed to slowly pile through his booty but I still give him some treats of his own. This year his treats from me were a book and a couple of small items. Z was enthused nonetheless, most likely ensuring him another year of goodies from me next year.
Z was very excited about wearing his Finn costume to school. Most of his schools haven't allowed costumes on Halloween, yet another difference I love about his current school. Once Z was on the bus Az woke up and I went back to bed with her. I love that my job allows me to do things like take off Halloween so I can spend it with my kids. Az usually wakes up at the same time as Z and I was hoping she would this morning as well so they could open their goodies together but my ever contrary girl slept just long enough for Z to leave.
I wasn't sure how Az would react to her costume. There were many things she wanted to dress up as for Halloween and a dragon was not one of them. If the girl could have chosen her own costume I have no doubt she would have ended up as a princess. After picking up Z from school and going to the store to buy the kids light-up wands and swords for trick-or-treating (which we completely forgot to actually use) we headed to the mall for the indoor trick or treating they do there. Z and I used to go when he was younger and it was always fun; he got to show off his costume to the people working in the stores and the few other trick-or-treaters, and got a few pieces of candy to boot.
This year the festivities started at 4PM. We got there around 4:12 and by the time we started walking around the mall there was hardly any candy left. This was partly because fewer stores seem to participate these days and because the ones that do don't buy very much candy, and partly because it was raining pretty hard that day so a lot more kids were taking advantage of the indoor venue. The kids had a good enough time anyhow. At first Az didn't want to put on her costume and go inside but then we saw a group of kids going in and I convinced her that they were all princesses. They were a witch princess, a bumblebee princess, and a starship trouper princess. Whatever, it worked to get her in there.
At first Az refused to wear the head of her costume and I didn't want to push it because I hadn't even been sure she was going to let me put the body of the costume on her. She had fun walking up to the people at the stores, and was happy to receive the coupons that most of them were handing out in lieu of candy or anything kids actually like, but she seemed a little overwhelmed by the throngs of people. Eventually she let me put the head of her dragon on and I quickly snapped photos, but she hadn't warmed up to it yet.
We didn't spend a ton of time at the mall because there just wasn't that much to do. After getting some lemonades we stopped at a drive-thru taqueria and headed to Sebastopol. I had planned on stopping somewhere to eat but decided that the rest of the night would go smoother if I let Az sleep in the car. We ate our burritos and then headed out in the pouring rain with one small umbrella to trick or treat for reals. Z's costume consisted of a tee shirt and shorts. I had him wear a sweatshirt over it at least, but honestly I don't think he would have felt the cold if I hadn't. It seemed the responsible mom thing to do though.
Az had a BLAST trick or treating. It poured the whole time so Miguel ended up carrying her to save her knit tail from the wet puddles. She happily wore the head of her costume the entire time, and Z happily quizzed people about what his costume was. Most people guessed both of the kids' costumes incorrectly. More people guessed that Z was a tooth than a character from Adventure Time. Miguel said he felt most people thought Az's costume was ghetto. Her costume was one that Z, my brother, and I wore and was made by my grandmother so it was extremely special to me. I choose to thing Miguel's interpretation of people' reactions was incorrect.
The street we go to is chosen because it usually is very lively. This year the crowd was much sparser, but it was nice. We didn't hit as many houses as we might have had it been a dry night but it was enough. Contrary to how it may appear from these pictures, Az had a fantastic time and was in a great mood. She got a little shy and didn't always say, "trick or treat" like we had rehearsed, but she did remember to say, "thank you," every single time. Az got a good taste for what trick or treating was. For the next few nights she continued to request we go again and talk about what costume she wanted to wear next. We did so many Halloween themed things that month that she didn't realize for at least another month that Halloween was done until the next year.
When we got home it was still pretty early so we put on the Frog Princess, Az's first viewing of a Disney princess movie, and snuggled in for the night. It was sort of a bummer that our Halloween got rained out, but I think we made the most of it.
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