We took a leisurely morning, because, frankly, Mommy's a bit tuckered out from this month. (She had a midterm on the 26th too.) We didn't head out for our Halloween lunch until 1 PM. We didn't do costumes for ourselves this year because Alex had chosen a superhero costume for himself. We didn't care to pay 50-100 dollars each for superhero costumes. We didn't care to wear a clashing costume. Alex insisted! 'No! Be pirates! You have to!' he cried.
Thankfully, when Mommy had bought her textbook on campus last month, she splurged on some viking helmets at the book store. Alex had insisted then too, that Mommy had to have a viking helmet to go with the one she was buying for him. (SUNY WCC's sports teams are 'the Vikings'.) This left a Viking helmet for Daddy and a slightly-too-small one for Mommy, but at least we had hats.
After a yummy (and necessarily huge) lunch at Applebee's, we set out for Union Avenue. We'd passed by this block last year, learning too late that it is THE block to be on for Halloween in Mamaroneck. The homes there all deck out and get into the Spooky Spirit in full. It seemed, though, that they all kick off at about 5 PM. We had about 90 minutes to kill, so we did some Trick or Treating on Mamaroneck Avenue instead.
The merchants of Mamaroneck Avenue were wonderfully generous this year too. Alex couldn't believe all of the candy he was getting. It took him several stops to get the "Trick or Treat" thing down, but he finally did. When we stopped in one of the Asian delis on the south side of the avenue, she teased him by saying "Trick or Treat!" to him first and saying she'd love some chocolate. Alex dashed back from the counter "No! Not for you!" She still gave him two apples even after his rudeness.
After we reached the end of Mamaroneck Avenue on Halstead again, we walked towards Union Avenue. We reached it at a time when Trick or Treating had begun. The first house we reached was playing some techno spooky stuff to go with their decked out house. Alex thought it was THE coolest thing ever. Then the next house had lots of cool stuff there too. We kept on going.
Then we got to the fourth house. That didn't go so well. It was decked out to the max. Goblins, ghosts, skeletons, witches, monsters, everything. Some of their decorartions were animated and Alex was getting scared already. Then the lady at the top of the deck stairs was nice and gave him candy. He was OK and even started to enjoy seeing a skeleton pirate display. Then, an older kid was exiting down the side stairs when a loud burst of air startled him. They'd set a sound and wind booby trap for guests and the kid yelled out when he was surprised by it. Alex had a total meltdown.
"No! No! No!" he screamed. He started to cry. Daddy picked him up. He wouldn't go down the stairs where it had happened. A little shaken Iron Man trembled as Daddy took him away from the house.
After that, Alex insisted that we go home. We had to walk down that avenue to get home anyway, so we stopped at the "Nice and quiet" houses as Alex would call them. At the last house we'd stopped in, there were no noises - an Alex requirement - but there was a very nice Ming the Merciless there. (Villain foe to Flash Gordon.) He posed for a picture with Alex and Alex seemed to relax. Maybe the scary guys of Halloween aren't ALL scary-wary.
Per Alex request, however, we headed home. He got distracted lots of times on the way there, especially when we stopped at CVS to get our own candy for Trick or Treaters. We had to remind him that he was really, really tired. He finally remembered when we got to West Street and he insisted on being carried. Poor Daddy.
We got home. Moved Malter to his new tank. Got Alex into a warm bath and warm PJs and he went out like a light.
Happy Halloween, Baby! I hope you liked your Halloween-iest October yet!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
