It's been a long day.
I went to Geoff's school this morning for a holiday pancake breakfast.
It was a lot of fun. I wasn't going to go, I have a ton of work I've been putting off, what with feeling useless and unloved and soon to be unemployed even by unemployment... When I told Geoff I wasn't coming to the pancake party, he was crestfallen.
I got home, thought about it... and went back. I can work tomorrow. He's rather important. And boy was he thrilled to see me.
Here are geoff's pancakes. They had several toppings for the pancakes, most of the kids were just glomming on bananas or blueberries (the long skinny things are carrot strips)... geoff painstakingly made these two faces on his plate. They cracked me up so hard, I had to take a picture of them. The one on the right looks like he's actually looking at me. Too damn funny. We then ate them. Eyes first!
 | One of my patented take a picture of us with camera at arm's length things. Geoff is looking at his friend Ramon. |
| This is Geoff when I walked in. That's a boy happy to see his mom, ain't it? This smile MADE my day. I could almost cry looking at it right now. |  |
Leaving the party wasn't easy. He wanted me to stay, or wanted to go with me... I had to convince him that my presence there was special, but I had to get to the college to see professor MF, and I'd see him tonight. He grudgingly went downstairs back to his class, with me fearing he'd be a pain in the ass all day... I couldn't worry about it though... I had to get to the College, and it is in Salem, MA, Witch City USA.
I barely made it to the college on time for the class, and as luck would have it, CuSeeMe was broken.
We had some students able to access it, but none of us at the college were able. We called their tech support, got the run around, MF gave them a ration of shit. They told us they'd connect us to the original guy we'd dealt with since May and she told them not to bother because he is no help... she was mad. They told us they'd call right back with a status on when things would be back to normal.
We waited a while and that guy, Mr. CuSeeMe as I call him, called her back. He let us know they were working on the problem AND, this is the ass kicker, told her that we could have our own private room as a test... set us up with it, and we're good to go. It's awesome. We're psyched. Class ended just as CuSeeMe came back online, and I bolted in order to get home and get the kids ready.
I got home from MF's class and got the kids dressed. We didn't know if Halloween started at 5, 5:30 or 6, so we settled for 5:30 and headed out. This Halloween, unlike last Halloween, was gorgeous weatherwise. The air was crisp and very cold, but no wind, no rain. The sky was overcast, and it kept the air from becoming even colder. It was, by all accounts, one of the better weather years we've had. And weather combined with willing kids makes for a very very fun celebration. We set out to meet our friends Steve and Shelley... Jessica ended up going one way with Steve and their daughter (her best friend) Maddy and another girl from their immediate neighborhood, Geoff wanted to go another direction. So Doug and I went with him.
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| Defending the Realm against usurpers and other meanies, Sir Geoff the Knight readies for battle! | Both my kids -- total hams. Jessie enjoyed the rose in her mouth thing, and the crystal ball was the icing on the cake. |
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| I sprayed crazy black hair stuff in her hair. It made her hair gray because I couldn't get enough of the stuff in there to cover the blonde... dig that crystal ball! | And again -- another shot of jess, with the rose and ball. |
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| Our new neighbor was a kitten. She had a great time going out and about. | Maddy is a little devil... |
 | Steve and Shelley, hamming it up as usual... They're a good time. |
Geoff was into it this year, and it was so fun to watch him.
He walked up to screen doors and yelled "Trick or Treat!", but didn't ring doorbells, so he'd have to yell louder to get their attention. It cracked us up.
In one doorway there was a boy dressed all in black, spread eagled out on his porch. Geoff approached with great caution -- the bowl of candy was between the boy's legs.
He looked like a fake body, clothing stuffed and thrown out onto the porch for scary impact. Before we got to the house I saw him sitting up and talking to someone inside, so I knew he was human. He had on a black ninja mask, so his face was completely covered.
Geoff gently took a candy out of the bowl and said "Happy Halloween," softly.
Initially I was sure this kid was going to jump up and scare him, but instead he softly said back, "and you too."
Doug and I laughed -- Geoff was slightly confused, and we talked to the kid for a while. He said he only jumps up and scares his friends and the bigger kids (there were plenty of them... and they were all nice).
So I gotta hand it to the older kids in my town. They are classy. Tons of them passed us, and gave greetings. They seemed all so incredibly polite... unlike many of my memories of being that age, or dealing with kids that age when I was younger.
Here are two kids we met, Jessie and James from Team Rocket!
A house near Steve and Shelley's was decked out old school with all kinds of strobe lights, crazy scary lights, and big HUGE speakers cranking out AC/DC's "Hell's Bells." It was a riot. You could hear it all over town, and all the parents were laughing and getting into it. They kept looping the song over and over, just the beginning... sometimes letting it get further into the tune. They let the CD play most of the way through at one point, and then switched back to their original song. When "Hell's Bells" would start again, Geoff would say, "I love this song, it's the Halloween song!"
We were up in the neighborhood up the hill and around the corner from us, where we never go on a regular basis. In fact, I haven't been up there since we moved in and I was scoping out the view. You could hear the music all the way up there, and someone in that vicinity set off fireworks which lit up the sky and made tons of noise.
It was a great Halloween One I'll remember for some time to come. Not nearly as much as the one we had 2 years ago when Jessie was the knight and Geoff was the dragon, and Aaron and Michelle came and spent it with us and we went trick or treating with Hard Cider in our hands AND it was 60 degrees out (I have pictures from our getting ready time and Geoff is out on the porch BAREFOOT that year... it was a very comfy night). That was the best halloween ever. This one would have been if A&M could have been here too. But it kicked ass nonetheless.
We got home, the kids didn't over eat candy, Doug made grilled cheese sandwiches. I have to tuck Geoff in pretty soon, he's had it. I think I have too.
Happy Samhain to anyone reading this who actually celebrates the ancient traditions, by the way. As an Irishly-rooted person, I feel the traditions of this particular holiday are lovely. As for me in the 21st century, tomorrow being All Saints Day I say the traditional prayers of remembrance in the Episcopal book of common prayer. They give homage to the old traditions of the ancient religions, and are one example of Christianity picking up on a good thing. I will remember Clayton. Be sure to remember someone, and thank God for their presence in your life, making you the person you are today.
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