G'day, all.
Linda, why can't you keep your appointment and take kt with you? Still, if you're home it's more relaxed and you can keep kt occupied on her costume.
Sharon, your afternoon sounds hectic - skating and then the Fall celebration. Enjoy the day and I hope tomorrow isn't too hectic for you.
GG, enjoy your classes. And if you want trick or treaters, why not dress up and go stalking some for yourself? Give the kids a scare, then some candy. Have fun! Or is it not permitted?
Well, we did the Halloween thing a bit. Didn't go to the party - difficult child 3 didn't want to and I didn't feel like driving, at night, for 40 minutes right on dinner time.
Then a friend dropped in with her daughter (aged 9) and they invited difficult child 3 to go trick or treating with them. I went along too, not totally happy about it since this isn't something we do in Australia. Usually trick or treating in our area is one or two lonely kids with a bit of toilet paper or a funny hat, wandering around the neighbourhood.
But this wasn't too bad - we met up with a number of young kids and a few young teens going the other direction, mostly in some sort of costume, all going to each other's homes. The costumes many of them were wearing were all identical - the local dance school has some sort of costume involving red fabric and sequins, so there seemed to be bands of roaming dancers doing the rounds, in various stages of transformation into ghouls, vampires and witches. The door knocking wasn't haphazard, they only went to homes they knew would welcome them. difficult child 3 was by far the tallest - he IS 13, after all, and hanging around happily with kids ranging from 3 to 9. He wore a Ring Wraith costume complete with hood which covered his face as well, but he was recognised wherever we went. The group of kids who had attacked him were also out and about, up to mischief. None of them attacked difficult child 3, though. A water bomb was thrown in our direction, but landed well away from us. Eggs had been thrown - you could see the debris.
difficult child 3 was having more fun trying to scare people than collecting candy. He had no bag, he just stuffed things in his pockets and then brought them to me. They're still in my scooter basket (I knew I'd never walk as far as the kids were). A number of times, after the kids had rung the doorbell and 'scared' the occupant, difficult child 3 was already heading out the gate to the next house, not caring about the lollies being handed out.
This was the first trick or treating he's ever done. As we were walking back just before sunset, we could see the older boys (difficult child 3's age and up) who were lurking (only word for it) around the school. They were wearing balaclavas or dark scarves on their faces and hiding in the bushes near the gate. Right near that gate is the home of our friend and annual Halloween target. I suspect they were planning to target his house - again. I recognised one of the boys who was standing at the back of the group - he has distinctive red curls, and he was also the one caught a few years ago egging our friend's house.
We got back home, 9 year old friend in tow, and she and difficult child 3 sat and played computer games until her mother showed up. I'm so glad difficult child 3 doesn't run with these rather dubious gangs of boys out to make mischief.
We've brought all the cars in tonight, none are out in the street. They're all locked up behind our gates, which are tied shut. It's all over for another year.
Enjoy your Halloween. It's got to be better than ours - although I'm glad we had a peaceful, fairly enjoyable time this year.
Marg