Thursday October 31
An
interesting fact about Halloween, other than it is my brother Kevan's birthday,
is that for decades Kerry and I never got to partake in the giving out of candy
thing. Sure, our church (New Life Bible Fellowship) has a neighborhood safe
gathering on the 31st of October called "Trunk or Treat." This is
where a bunch of folks park in the church parking lot and stand by their
trunks, which are filled with all kinds of sweet give-a-ways. It is a lot less
dangerous compared to having your kids wandering the streets, at night, like we
used to do when we were that age. But due to scheduling issues, work or
eldercare, Kerry and I never got to join in with the "Trunk or
Treaters."
Our house in
Tucson is on a semi-rural cul-d-sac. We have never seen a kid wander up to our
door. The houses are just too far apart making this a not-so successful area to
gather mounds of candy. Our home in La Mesa California was the same; too far
and too difficult for young ones to travel to.
Now, being on
base at McChord, there is no shortage of kids running up and down the streets
at any given time. Being Halloween, we anticipated a ton of door bell ringers.
Steph
already purchased bags of candy to hand out and being concerned for the kids of
the neighborhood, we all had to do some quality control sampling. The goods
were worthy for the kids coming to our door.
As far as my
cold goes, I am still feeling pretty lousy. Brandon is doing much better and he
plans on making the door-to-door rounds tonight. Daisy is excited as well, prepping for her
adventures tonight. Kerry did herself up and it was fun watching the entire
household buzzing with excitement. The only thing I wanted to wear... jammies, a
blanket and a box of Kleenex.
Last year,
after the Halloween season was over, Steph purchased an electronic witch that speaks and moves and can be rather
scary for younger kids. It was time to start the games for the night.
McChord has
some rules that Trick-or-Treaters must
follow. These are non- negotiable. First, you can only be on base if you live
there, or like us, were invited and passed security screening. Serving at McChord AFB are 714 Active Duty Officers, 3293
Active Duty Enlisted, 5833 Family Members, 12,000 Retirees AF (45,000 total),
1200 Civilians and 2507 Reserve Component. So, as you can see, there are a lot
of kids on base. The second rule is that you are only allowed to Trick-or-Treat
between 6pm and 8pm. No exceptions. If you are caught on the street after 8pm
you are escorted back home by the MP's. And of course, they (the MP's) don't
put up with any nonsense. They are constantly patrolling the streets, just to
make sure the kids are safe.
When
the door bell rang the first time, I got up out of my sick bed (couch) to look
at the kids. They were so cute. Parents proudly stood by beaming with parental
pride. Some kids were so tiny that they had to be carried to the door. Upon
seeing all of the glowing faces eagerly accepting our candy I immediately felt
better. I watched for 30 minutes before being forced to go back to the living
room to rest. That door bell rang constantly for the entire 2 hours and I didn't
sneeze on any of the kids.
Before
leaving for the evening, Daisy spent some time touching up her costume...she
was dressed up as an Eskimo. Brandon, on the other hand, was just wearing his
street clothes. I asked him if he was feeling better and if he was planning on
going out Trick-or-treating? He said he was better and he was going out. I then
asked him what he was going to go out as and he said he already had on his
costume. Street clothes? Really? I didn't understand, that is until he told me
that he was dressed up as a poor kid who couldn't afford a costume. I rolled on
the floor laughing. He has an amazing sense of humor.
I
enjoyed watching the kids come to the door, and how they were keeping an eye on
that ugly mechanical Witch. It was very entertaining. They would approach carefully and as soon as that Witch's motion
sensor was activated, her head would lower her eyes would glow. As she moved
the kids (young and old) would jump back in momentary fear. It was way too much
fun.
Once
the night was over and our grandkids arrived back home, we did an inventory of
their take for the night. I think as far as quantity goes, Daisy may have taken
a slight lead.
I
needed to get to bed so as I said my good-nights, I headed up the stairs with
Rosie. Kerry soon followed. I took a little extra time to pack up our
belongings, just in case I was feeling better in the morning. My plan was a simple one; if I woke up an
still felt lousy I was going to cancel my trip to Nanaimo and spend a couple of
more days recovering with the Grandkids. If when I woke up I had some energy
and was feeling even partially better, we would be Canada bound.
The
ferry leaves from the dock at 10:45am and since it would be a 3 hour drive
there, we needed to be out of the house no later than 7:00am. That would give
us enough time to deal with any border delays. We were bringing Rosie with us
across the border and since Kerry or I have never done that before, we had no
idea of what to expect.
Steph Skyped with Justin and updated him on the events of the day.
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