No surprise, Clara was a princess... again. Lilly continued her study of the animal kingdom as a monkey instead of a lion and Henry was a hot dog instead of a twinkle inside Amy's belly. Good times.
Once I got home from work we piled everything into the truck, including the pumpkins we had just carved and headed to Michelle and Daryl's house. They live in an honest-to-goodness neighborhood rather than a dang-it's-dark hole in the woods. Lex was a lion and Jack was a gorilla... though one with a purple chest.
Trick-or-treating was much the same as in past years except with the upgrade of Michelle and Daryl's neighborhood came an upgrade from wonky little candies to full-size candy bars and even a couple of king-size bars.
The kids got progressively more bold throughout the evening and eventually Lilly was talking to random strangers. She told them that I liked M&Ms so she got a couple of extra bags to share with me.
Probably the lamest of all were the high school kids who started coming by Michelle and Daryl's after we were winding down and asking if we were "dumping." They figured they'd do us a favor and take all the extra candy off our hands. Gee... thanks. Michelle told one group, "Not for you," when they asked, "What? No dumping?"
Amy and I remain convinced they're due for an egging, but perhaps that doesn't happen in the upscale king-sized neighborhood where they live. I'm sure there would have been a dead elk staked out in our front yard if we had done something like that. We live in North Bend, after all.
The kids got a bite or two of candy before we tried to put them to sleep. Clara did fall asleep in the car on the way home, but Lilly was chatting up a storm and even took a while to settle once we got her into bed. Henry didn't know what he was missing, but I'm sure next year he'll be in the thick of it all.