Halloween is over for another year.
The girls had lots of fun dressing up yesterday. They loved trick or treating and seeing their friends as we made our way up and down our favorite trick or treating street. And Mathilde has discovered that if she goes to people's doors and holds out a bag, strangers will give her candy! Ok, that last one doesn't sound so great, but that is what trick or treating is about, after all!
You've already seen the girls' costumes from my post yesterday about the Halloween celebrations at school, so there's no surprise there. But... there were a few extra modifications that were added for the big day which you'll see soon.
This year was our first Halloween on a weekend. Usually we celebrate Halloween at school and then head out to trick or treat in the evening at a nearby street that is blocked off to traffic for the evening. This year though we got to extend the celebrations. There were the school festivities on Friday (which you can see here if you missed it) and then yesterday we went trick or treating twice. Double the fun!
First up we hit Berkeley's Fourth Street shopping district where the stores were handing out candy to trick or treaters. In the past we've never made it to Fourth Street to trick or treat as we never have enough time between school and heading out to trick or treat in the neighborhood. We did actually arrive a little later than planned thanks to heavy traffic - the bus actually took longer than it would have taken for us to walk! - and many of the stores were already out of candy, but the girls still ended up with a good haul. And they had lots of fun. And I got to take photos of them trick or treating in daylight, which was a first!
Remember I said there were a few modifications to the costumes? Well, here's the big one... Seeing as Mathilde was a construction worker I decided that her stroller really needed to be converted into a digger! I dressed as a construction worker too seeing as I was "driving" the digger. We had so many people comment on Mathilde's digger and she loves it - although she keeps calling it a tractor! I'll have a DIY coming soon for the stroller/digger conversion, you know, as inspiration for next year! I only finished the scoop yesterday so I didn't get a chance to share it before Halloween.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner on Fourth Street before walking home to get ready for the "real" trick or treating. Kim wasn't keen to head out during the day in his class nerd costume (the same one he wears every year) and Ava had forgotten the scarf that went with her snowman costume so a quick stop at home was needed. On the way home we stopped by a few houses to trick or treat.
Once we got home and added the final touches to our costumes we headed out to nearby Josephine Street which is a favorite trick or treating spot in our neighborhood. From what I can gather, trick or treating in Berkeley is not the same as in other cities/towns. I don't know if it's because there are a lot of students here and the population tends to be rather transient, but people don't really trick or treat on their own street. Instead everyone heads to a small number of hot spots where most of the houses are decorated and the street is blocked off to traffic for the evening. It's fun being on such a crazy busy street with kids running around everywhere, but at the same time it can be a little overwhelming for the little ones. I love the idea of just going to houses on random streets rather than one particular spot but that doesn't really happen here so much. Either way, the trick or treating was loads of fun, although it did get a little tiring for Lola and Mathilde by the end.
There are a couple of houses along Josephine Street that the girls look forward to seeing each year. There's a house with a giant spider that drops down on people's heads as the walk past, there's a house with lots of gravestones and shadowy figures moving behind the blood stained windows, and, everyone's favorite, the house with the candy cannon! This particular house always has a movie or tv show theme. Last year's was Game of Thrones, this year it was Mad Max. The kids talk about the house with the candy cannon all year round.
We arrived back home close to 9pm with Mathilde fast asleep and a very tired Lola almost asleep in the stroller. The girls were so tired that they didn't even go through their candy, or eat a single piece until morning. They changed into their new Halloween pajamas and pretty much went straight to bed - with a quick stop to pose with our jack-o'lanterns first.
This morning the girls checked out their candy haul. They were all pretty happy with what they received trick or treating. Ava and Lola were content to just eat one piece while Mathilde kept trying to go back for more. She's a little sweet tooth, that one. I'll have to make sure her candy is kept up high.
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
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