halloween

a holiday that I really could take or leave, but we took it.  at least a little.  the night before (with papa at home) we carved a pumpkin, roasted seeds and watched The Great Pumpkin

Halloween day, after dropping grandpa off for shoulder surgery, she and I headed to the Biltmore Estate for some exploring and tricycle riding.  there was even a halloween dress in the latest box of hand-me-downs, so she was appropriately clad.

I don't know how far she pedaled down that path, but it was far.  she worked those little legs very hard.
we had a brief stint at art class, relieved early to go pick grandpa back up from his surgery.  she fell asleep on the way to the hospital and stayed that way through pick up, prescription-filling, grocery shopping, and the ride back home.  all dressed and ready to go in her turnout gear, she had been looking forward to "going to Halloween" (read: trick-or-treating, what little she knows of it).  as we pulled off the highway at our exit, I woke her and told her if she wanted to go, she had to be awake.  if she didn't want to, that was just fine.  she said yes, definitely yes.

and so we walked up Church Street with the rest of Black Mountain and got our free hot chocolate.  she mostly people-watched, worked the "trick-or-treat" magic at a handful of the less intimidating houses, and spent a little time with friends.

after deciding we were all done, we stopped by the car and sat in the grass, each chose one piece of candy, and had a little picnic.

she savored her little strawberry hard candy and I ate my mini twix and thought about how my taste in chocolate is way better now than it was when I was 8, remembering how I used to get so excited about that crappy little chocolate coated cookie....

we called papa to tell him about our exciting evening~  it was one of her first real conversations with the phone to her ear instead of on speaker.  made her seem so much older, somehow.  I listened to her end "yes", "probably from all that bike riding", "the Biltmore Estate", "yes, lots! three lollipops!"and guessed what he was saying and asking.  we got home and I asked her if she'd like to choose just a few pieces of candy to keep, and give the rest to the 'candy goblin', a friendly little fellow with very bad teeth, who comes around and trades candy for other goodies on Halloween night.  she was all over it.  she's not very into candy anyway.  probably because I've not offered it often, maybe a bit because we talk a lot about what we can do to keep our bodies strong and healthy, about good food choices and such.  or maybe she was just intrigued by this strange little fellow.

he left her a book and a secondhand copy of the scholastic dvd "Click, Clack, Moo".  I think if parents had been interested in making up strange little creatures that traded out their kids' halloween booty when I was little, I'd have been all over it, too.