Halloween Vinson Style

This will go down as the year of THE Halloween. Ben has referred to anything related to and about the holiday for the last month with emphasis on "THE." We started our holiday weekend with the school parade through the streets near the school with parents and people crazy enough to come out to wave and cheer the kids on. A large truck passed and honked it's horn. Ben's teacher (who was holding his hand) said later he was more excited about that then the entire parade. Go figure.

All the parents, which looked more like a G8 Summit Protest Rally than the typical suburban folk lined the playground and welcomed them back for a school wide breakfast. The best (and most appropriate)teacher costume was someone dressed with a black cape and white sign reading, "in memory of the extinct south African rhino." I was standing next a child's two fathers, one with a shirt reading Got Pot and the other lamenting that their son didn't like his PBK costume.

Afterwards in Ben's class parents were invited to costume show and tell. I am amazed at the level of attention Ben and the 24 other kids had with only 2 teachers. I would have been banging my head against a wall if I had to corral them with all the excitement and food.

Saturday was cold, gloomy, and rainy. So we held off on heading over to our town's annual fall festival until the rain passed and enjoyed a helicopter landing, racing pigs, tons of inflatables, and rides. It was in the park near our house so we enjoyed a leisurely walk over.

We got our bags of candy ready for the neighborhood folk and Bill took to hit the major loop trick o treating with Ben. As he was walking he ran into some of my friends from our neighborhood book club who were walking with their kids. Bill joined them and reported that Ben by the end of the night was running from house to house with the big kids en masse.

I joined them for the last few houses and by 8:30 we were all worn out. I will say that along the route I saw two things worth reporting. One family was giving out iced juice boxes in place of candy and beer to the parents. NICE, given it was humid and muggy. Also our neighbors whose home burned in January set up a festive tent on their now vacant lot and were giving out Cider with a big sign thanking everyone who had helped.

Ben immediately told me when he got back he was eating all his candy on The Halloween. A fun night that was totally a highlight of a very long week. I can't wait until next year. According to Ben he is going to be a truck driver. Bill's comment to this was, "think we will have a hard time dressing him like Sylvester Stallone from Over the Top and encouraging Ben to challenge all the neighborhood kids to arm wrestle for candy?