Halloween Shenanigans

Halloween was not as fun this year.   You see, the forecast for the night was moderate to heavy rain with sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts that could be up to 50 mph.  Not exactly ideal trick or treat conditions. Soooo, Tim and I decided to be resourceful and scope out some of the indoor trick or treat opportunities. We saw that a local mall was sponsoring an indoor trick or treat at their participating stores.  We thought it would be a great idea.   We thought, "Oh, we can trick or treat at the mall!  There are a lot more stores than houses in the neighborhood!  We can even eat in the food court and have dinner while we are there!"  

Here are some samples of what we actually said once there...

Seriously would have rather turned my umbrella right side out multiple times in the wind instead of dealing with the terror that was mall trick or treating.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but the entire mall was an enormous shoulder to shoulder line to get candy from stores who were giving out crap candy.  You know, like those strawberry hard candies with the gel in them that are wrapped up to kind of look like a strawberry?  And the wrapper is always half off?  Yeah, it was like that...  and THEN you would wait forever to see that a store had run out... Hell.  It was hell.

This is how Tim felt about things.  I think he worded it quite eloquently.  ;)

After getting frustrated, we finally decided to head for the food court, which to our surprise,actually had free tables.  Before we got there, I was starting to feel sick to my stomach, but I thought maybe it was because I was hot due to the crowds.   I ate some gourmet mall food and felt worse.  It was then that I realized that home had to be the next destination.  I proceeded to bribe my children and agreed to buy them their favorite candy x 2 at the grocery store this weekend if we could just go home.  Surprisingly, they were fine with it.  

That night, I got home and felt even more sick and went straight to bed.  I woke up multiple times during the night because Darcy kept having strange issues that needed addressed -- like her feet weren't covered well enough with her blanket.  Each time I got up, I felt more sick.  Then all of a sudden, I got hit with a ton of bricks with the "Oh shit, I have got the flu" feeling.   I called in to work and spent my Friday in flu hell.

Happy Halloween!!

The bright side:

LUCKILY, we took our adorable children to a great Halloween event at the Cincinnati Zoo the weekend prior.  The kids got to dress up, visit their favorite animals, and trick or treat at treat stations around the zoo. We all had a great time.  So, they did get some other fun Halloween activities in...thankfully.  Here are some pics!

Darcy in her costume right before we left.  She is a "cupcake girl".  I have no idea what that is exactly, but she HAD to have the costume.  I had these good intentions that involved me making the kids awesome costumes this year, but it did not materialize. Oh well.  There is always next year!!

This person was walking around posing with the kids.  It was quite possibly the coolest costume I have EVER seen.  The eyes and mouth moved and everything.  I have NO CLUE how this person could see anything, but it was still awesome.

Both kids in full costume.  They had all these little areas around the zoo where kids could pose for pictures.  Very cute.  In case you can't tell, the pumpkin is carved out to look like a gorilla.

Certain times during the day, animals were given pumpkins as a treat.  We were just in time for the polar bears to get theirs.  This bear bit into this thing and carried it around in his mouth like we would an apple.  It was fun to see.