A very a-peeling Halloween

Yesterday was the day Mark lives for all year long--Halloween, or as he likes to think of it, the Night of Endless Candy.

Some kids use this night to live out the scariest forms of themselves, donning gory masks or creepy costumes. Mark opted instead for a brighter, more cheerful costume; he dressed as a banana.

And of course, I can't refuse a funny photo op, so I begged him to take this picture of him eating one of his tiny brethren. He agreed, but not before sighing loudly, turning to his friend Sean, and saying, "Sean, see what I have to put up with?" That only made me giggle more.

He's a banana cannibal--a banana-bal!

But if you think one banana is funny, a whole bunch is even funnier! That's right, not one but TWO of Mark's friends also went as bananas!

A trio of bananas under the banana tree

The Barnetts were kind enough to host a pre-candy dinner. Kimmi did a fantastic job decorating the table and room, which we parents loved, but went woefully under appreciated by the kids. They tore through the room and out to the backyard, where they lit upon the giant trampolines, and morphed into a bunch of flying bananas and one laughing werewolf (sans mask). 

It's like a flying fruit salad.

We finally convinced the kids to eat by reminding them that the sooner they ate, the sooner they could hit the streets. They gobbled down their food, and raced back out to the trampolines.

Eventually, we herded them out front for photos. Which was a little bit insane, considering we had a dozen kids, none of them willing to smile, or even look at the camera, at the same time (Mark refused to look up for any of the group shots). It was pretty funny to see them all--besides the three bananas, there were a couple werewolves, a couple rock stars, a couple creepy-masked creatures, a prince and princess of Denmark, and Thing 1 from the Cat in the Hat (we picked up Thing 2 later on).

We finally started our trek through the streets in search of sugar. The first two houses were jackpots, handing out full-size candy bars.

The kids ran house to house, the gaggle of parents trailing behind, shouting, "Remember to say thank you!" The streets were pretty empty--occasionally, we ran into smaller groups of kids, but not many. Our kids hit up all the houses with lights on, at one point fracturing into two smaller groups--the younger boys running ahead of the 8th graders.

The kids ran into some pretty funny sights along the way. The bananas tried to avoid this guy--Justin actually ran away screaming, which was hilarious. We had to stop and take a picture with him.

A banana's worst nightmare!

We also came across a couple very cool graveyards. I've gotta hand it to the grave keepers, they did some excellent work here.




There was another house a few blocks down with a haunted maze. The kids totally dug it, proclaiming it waaaay scarier than the haunted maze at Calico a couple weeks back (high praise, indeed). As we were leaving, some kind of weird skeleton dog guy crawled out. Very cool!

The kids cracked us up--there was no method to their candy-collecting madness. As kids, we used to run up one side of the street, cross over, and then run up the other side. If a house was dark, you didn't even slow down. There was free candy to be had out there, and only a few precious hours to collect it all. We didn't waste a single second of it.

But our kids walked at a much slower, decidedly unhurried pace. They trick or treated at one house, then crossed over to the other side of the street. They'd hit up a house there, then cross back over. Their zig-zagging confused us, and eventually, the adults simply walked down the middle of the street. One little kid even tired out, and wanted to go home, which baffled my friend Liz.

"I've never heard of a kid wanting to go home early!" she gasped, and I nodded, equally shocked.

But it didn't matter, the kids all got more than enough, and had a blast. Bags full, they headed back to the Barnetts, popping fun-sized candy bars into their mouths the whole time.

Back at the house, they immediately dumped their booty on to the floor, and the wheeling and dealing began. The boys furiously began calling out candy names, yelling, "I'll give you all my lollipops for your Three Musketeers!" and "Who has M&Ms?" Justin wanted Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; Jonah wanted Jolly Ranchers, Sean wanted Now & Laters, and Mark wanted anything, provided it was full-size. It was hilarious to watch the seious bartering.

Finally, all the trading done, the boys stuffed some sugary goodness into their mouths, and ran back outside to--where else?--the trampolines. (On the way home, Mark declared he's now saving for a giant trampoline.)

After some cajoling and the lure of visiting a haunted house, the boys finally jumped off. Mark was exhausted, and opted not to go to the haunted house, and after all that walking, I was fine with that decision.

And so I took my tired little banana home. I worry every year that all the candy will send his blood sugar super high, but in fact, thanks to all the walking and excitement, he always goes low instead. This year was no exception. So after some orange juice and a quick shower (trampolines make you sweaty!), he was off to bed, hopefully not dreaming of the graveyards and haunted tunnels we'd just seen.

Thanks to the Barnetts, Kochs, and McKees for another great Halloween!