Halloween Two Thousand Thirteen

Let me get this off my chest right away: Halloween is the hardest holiday to photograph. It's dark, the kids are running around like madmen, and the light sources are odd (not to mention spooky!). I don't have a fancy camera. I do the best I can with what I've got, but year after year it's not very good.

Despite my photographic frustrations, we had an awesome time this Halloween. Elizabeth wanted to wear the same costume she's been wearing for three years: Gemma the Witch (although this year she dispensed with the red hair and green face, thank goodness). Suzanne was content to throw on the cow costume we got as a hand-me-down from someone (Joshi and Billi is a good bet). It's cute and comfortable, and who doesn't love a cow?

We met up with Aaron and Wendy and Lily and Kai. I was the only lame-o without a costume. Barb took Elizabeth's suggestion and went as The Ocean (blue bathrobe over blue shirt, various marine animal cut-outs pinned to the robe, wave crown on head, and smartphone playing wave sounds in pocket). Unfortunately, Aaron and Wendy showed up as "Sick and Tired Mom/Dad" wearing bathrobes, which took a lot of wind out of the sails of Barb's costume. She just looked like another bathrobe wearing parent, except she had a paper crown for some reason.

We trick-or-treated for three or four blocks, then headed back home. There were a lot of people out and about, which was nice. When we first moved to this neighborhood, almost no one trick-or-treated. Barb and I feared that the tradition (which, if I remember my childhood correctly, was so much fun) was dying out.

Well, if it died, it's back with a vengeance, like the ghost of a man executed for a crime he did not commit.

Suzanne (L) and her friend and neighbor Ani (R) at the Southeast Indoor Park. Not sure who the kid in the middle is. 

The girls prior to heading out to either Trick or Treat the neighbors.

Suzanne, Barb, Aaron, and Ani outside of Ani's house.

Lily and Kai as Little Orphan Annie and The Great Pumpkin. Lily looks annoyed because it took me a long time to get my camera to focus in the pitch darkness.

Elizabeth inventories her loot. As usual, after gorging on candy Halloween night, Elizabeth was asked to pick out four pieces of candy to keep. The rest went onto the front porch for the Candy Fairy. Failure to give to the Candy Fairy results in no candy at Christmas. Pay it forward.