Behold, the itsy bitsy spider:

Trick-or-treating was so much fun. People in this neighborhood really go all out. We met up with some of the neighbors that we’ve made friends with, and our kids basically traveled as a mob around the neighborhood. Even some of the parents dressed up. One of the dads was a lumberjack, one of the moms was “Jane the Plumber” (with plunger), and another mom was Sarah Palin (complete with toy gun and a toy stuffed moose). Those last two would’ve been a lot funnier if they were Democrats and being ironic, but sadly, they’re both huge McCain supporters. So… eh.

Things started off great. We dressed her up and took her outside to play while it was still daylight outside, and she had a great time seeing everyone.

See? Hanging with Pokemon and a pirate girl. Awesome!

Once we started trick-or-treating, though, she got freaked out really fast. She didn’t know what to make of all the noise and the action, plus being outside at night, which almost never happens. (Although we found out a new word in her lexicon when she pointed at the night sky and said, “it’s stars!” We looked for the moon but it was hidden behind some trees.) I think overall the poor kid was totally confused by the whole outing. There are a couple of boys in the neighborhood who she would normally hug, but she didn’t recognize them in their costumes, and she was scared of them when they came over to say hi to her. So we carried her around during most of the trick-or-treating part, and that was fine. I’m glad Dave came with me, so we could take turns carrying her (kiddo is HEAVY).

Oh, speaking of which: since all three of us went out trick-or-treating, I left a bowl of candy on the front stoop and left a note that said, “So that everyone gets some candy, please take only 3 pieces each. Thanks, and happy halloween!” I figured that probably the first kids that came along would empty out the bowl into their pillow case and that would be that. But everyone was really good and there was still some candy left when we got home, which surprised me. I guess most kids were out with their parents, who were probably supervising the candy pilfering.

We only lasted about an hour. We went to very few houses, mostly just the ones where we knew the people who lived there. Then we came home and answered the door for about 10,000 more trick-or-treaters. We almost ran out of candy, it was insane.

I tried to get a video of her in her costume, but she just wasn’t cooperating with the camera at all. This is the best I could do: it’s actually 2 separate videos merged together.

Oh, I also found out that in our neighborhood, it’s apparently common to have “treats” for the adults, in the form of cocktails. I think that’s awesome, we’re totally doing that next time. I’ll whip up a big pitcher of pomegranate martinis or something like that and pass out plastic cups for the grown-ups. Although as Dave wisely pointed out, we’ll have to have a kid-friendly version too. That’s fine, I’m already looking forward to next year.