Halloween Downtown 2008

What a chilly, rainy day for trick-or-treating today was.  I wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to go ahead with our plans.  They had such good memories from last year though, and I didn’t want them to be disappointed.  We slept in late and took our time getting ready.  Then I drove downtown and left the car in the parking garage.  My children’s face paint was a little smeared after about 2 hours of walking downtown without umbrellas, but they kept their spirits up and enjoyed the experience.  I couldn’t take an umbrella because I had to hold their hands, and we were constantly going in and out of the businesses.  I just decided to dress them in warm layers and waterproof shoes because I knew we were going to get wet.  I wore a long coat and tall boots.  I’m glad to report that the pumpkin costume did reappear, since it still fits my son.  It kept him warm and the adorable hat kept the raindrops off his head.  We had talked about dressing him up as an elephant, but he didn’t like my homemade elephant ears so that idea wasn’t going to work.

There wasn’t the same festive atmosphere on the streets this year because of the rain.  There wasn’t any music and the costume contest had to be held inside.  One of the places we went into briefly was the pottery studio where they painted the horse and elephant in July.  Of course they want to go back and ask about it all the time, but it is so expensive.  It is the kind of project we might only do once or twice a year.  We also stopped in the art gallery to do some quick craft projects.  They traced their hands to make wings for bats.

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Before we got wet in the rain

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After we got wet in the rain

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Craft project that uses traced hands for bat wings

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I am so excited that Halloween is on the Friday night before Daylight Savings Time ends.  Last year it hadn’t gotten dark yet when we started trick-or-treating because we had already moved the clocks.  We’re planning on going back to the same great neighborhood.  What are your plans for Halloween?