A few Halloween photos for you. DS1 was a bat, DS2 was a Young Republican, I just wore a witches hat. Yep, we ended up with a "conceptual" costume for DS2 after a major tantrum over the Spiderman costume that didn't happen - well, we got the costume on, tears, then wanted it off, so got it off, then tears, wanted it back on. After a struggle, I just put DS2 in his camo pants, a t-shirt that says "Young American" and his little bomber jacket and called it good.
Have you wondered what we do in NYC - yes, we trick or treat! But first we parade! The village (downtown) is known for the biggest Halloween parade in the country. If you are an adult, it is awesome; maybe even for teens. But I'm not willing to take the kids that far from home on a crazy night in the city. Also the costumes get very elaborate and I'm not ready to explain all the gore.
Up in our hood, they start with a kids' costume parade where we all follow the bagpipers (why? I have no idea) from soldiers monument, around Riverside Park, to end at Hippo Play ground. Then the kids run around like crazy and the neighborhood association sells Dunkin Donuts' donut and apple cider for a buck. The bag pipers stand on one side and play for about an hour or so, both boys liked checking out this action.
Then around 5 pm, we headed home. We had a few friends join us for pizza before taking the kids out trick or treating. Two firsts; (1) I read a cool idea on pizza, so we made the pizza and I sliced mozzarella thin and DS1 used a cookie cutter to make pumpkin shaped cheese for the pizza. Second, this was the first time I've made a picture of martinis. I was trying to make Cosmopolitans, but I didn't have cranberry juice so I substitute a juice box, yep, you read right, juice box. Everyone raved and was curious how I made them.
This year we hit all the lobbies on 79th street between Columbus and Amsterdam, then the street of brownstones on 78th. It was awesome. The boys don't totally get it. They like getting the candy, but don't understand why this craziness is going on. Also, they got a touch scared if the set up was to scary. Third, they don't have any idea how much candy it is possible to collect.
All the lobbies were decked out and the doormen giving candy. But if you want to trick or treat door to door, they give you a list of apartments to visit. With two toddlers and a small group of us all with little guys, we were happy to stay on ground level and just do the lobbies. However, I have a feeling in years to come we'll hit the full buildings. DS1 was a bit more into checking out all the decorations and getting the candy. DS2 was cute in that he would take the candy from the first place, turn it in for something different at the next place. Eventually he was happy to just sit in the stroller with a lollie.
It was cool to go out. It was a gorgeous evening, with only jackets but no coats. It was neat to see the boys have fun, and DS1 help DS2 navigate the evening. It is great they can get excited about 10 pieces of candy and not need 1,000 more pieces. And given the environment down at my day job, it was great to get out and see the city being so silly.
