Life After Windbird, Day 80: Happy Halloween
Date: Monday, October 31, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny and CHILLY; High 50, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
My day was filled with fun Halloween activities. I got a call early from Justin who shared a story with me. Ziggy and Coco’s school has an altar for ‘dia de los muertos’ translated to English it means ‘day of the dead’. This is a custom throughout Latin America, although it is mainly a Mexican tradition celebrated on November 1st. Basically it is a time to honor the dead and today Ziggy and Coco were taking photos of themselves with Granddad for the altar. Ziggy decided he wanted to dress as a sailor today in honor of Granddad, but then he had to ask his dad what sailors wear. In his mind sailors wear ‘jeans pants’ because that is all he has ever seen Mark or I wear. So he wanted jeans and hat, because Granddad always wore a hat. Too sweet.
Ollie’s preschool Halloween parade was in Woods Hole at 11 am, so I went to see that. So many cute little ones.
Ollie dressed as a Dalmatian puppy for the parade and was just as cute as he could be.
I left after the parade but told Ollie I would be returning to pick him up this afternoon. He said, “I know.” I asked if mommy or daddy told him and he said, “No. I just wanted you to come pick me up so I knew you would.” Sure wish I had that kind of confidence in making things happen just because I want them to! Unfortunately, I think you have to be four years old to have that confidence. At 2:15 I drove to East Falmouth Elementary School to see Sam and Jonah’s school parade. Jonah went as a lacrosse player and Sam was a World War II soldier.
And then I drove home for a bit and then went to pick Ollie up from school. By the time we got home, I had a text message from Justin and Jo with a picture of the Handley-Hunts ready to go Trick-or-Treating in Rincon, Puerto Rico—Ziggy as a Minion and Coco as a Ladybug.
And then it was time to eat dinner and get ready to go Trick-or-Treating in East Falmouth, Massachusetts. Heather fixed a fantastic dinner for the seven of us—Sam’s friend, Ethan, and I were the guests. Heather is still getting kale, Swiss chard, and tiny wild cherry tomatoes out of the garden and fixed a yummy side dish using the fresh ingredients from the garden. The food was so good I think we lingered at the table a little longer than we should have because the first Trick-or-Treaters arrived before our gang was ready to go out. That hurried them along. Heather went as Little Red Riding Hood and Jed was the woodcutter.
Jed made a really cute train that fit on top of Ollie’s little red wagon and Ollie went as the train engineer.
Sam and Jonah stayed in their costumes from the school parade and I stayed home to hand out the goodies. Jonah asked me what I was going to be and I said I was the Great Pumpkin. I had on an orange shirt and I let the kids draw jack ‘o lanterns on the front of the shirt. It was a chilly night but the gang was out longer than usual. They decided to go to the far end of the neighborhood to go to the kids’ music teacher’s home. And by doing so, they each came home with huge bags of candy. They were very happy Trick-or-Treaters.
