Fun Halloween

We had a great Halloween, and it kind of grew into more than we had originally anticipated, in a good way, of course. In the past, we took the kids over to Woodstock and went around the different neighborhoods, and it was a lot of fun. What’s not to love about dressing up in a costume and getting loads of candy? However, at times I was aware that some kids benefit from going with other friends. We would run into people we knew, and it always seemed like it would be fun if our kids were with their buddies instead of just their boring old parents. At some point being around the parental units just becomes intolerable.

This year, we had a different plan, and serendipity played a role. Our friends the E’s were inquiring about Halloween and we decided to join forces and hang out together. They have wonderful kids who are buddies with our kids, and we figured it would be nice for them to hang out together. To add to the fun, HH brought her kids along, and we all headed over to the big W. Everyone was thrilled to have a big group, and it worked out really nicely.

We met up here and then caravan’d over to town. The scene was happening in Woodstock, though personally I thought it was more subdued than previous years, which is perfectly reasonable because there was some question as to whether or not they were even going to have Halloween because of the flood. Woodstock got hit hard by Irene, and the whole area where we were going to was closed off at one point. The town rallied to make it happen and even had a candy drive to supply all the houses. Being outsiders to the area, we bring bags of candy and offer them to assorted houses, but this year, I couldn’t give the stuff away. People were stocked to the rafters with candy, and good stuff, to boot. None of those Smarties or Necco wafers. I ended up handing the candy out to our group, which excited the kids but maybe didn’t thrill the parents. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

The kids were thrilled and weren’t even aware that things were quieter this year, which is fine. We ended at the Woodstock Inn, which again, was quiet. In past years we saw literally dozens of our friends there, but this year I didn’t see a single person I recognized. It could have been because they were in costume, but the whole evening was a little more low key than usual. Again, the kids were not even aware of this, and they really had a good time, so no big deal.

Afterward we headed home and stopped at a couple of houses nearby to say hello and get some last minute candy. We got home around 9:00 and the kids spent about half an hour counting their candy and taking stock of their bounty. I have to say, they got a lot of candy, and as I mentioned, good stuff. Lots of chocolate, which I think is the key.

All in all, we had a great time. Until next year, thanks for reading, and thanks to Arleynd Soca for the pic.