Halloween

Ok, so although our intention was to go celebrate Halloween in the large anglo-community village of Valbonne with friends, the torrential downpour of the entire day prevented us from leaving the house. So in the afternoon, Robert and I decided to set up a trick-or-treating event at home. Robert really embraced the idea...he drew a picture of a witch, a ghost, a pirate and a pumpkin...and taped the pictures to the door of each house, i.e. bedroom. With only flashlights in hand, we knocked on the first door (the witch house), and Robert, disguised as a witch, answered the door. The plan was to of course say, "trick-or-trick" and collect our candies. But instead, Andrew clung to me, not recognizing Daddy, and forced me to hold out his candy bag for him to collect his treats! This continued on for the ghost house, whereby Robert was covered in a white blanket, answering the knock with a "whooooooooo is it"?...at which point Andrew ran off in tears and refused to go back into the hallway! Even after explaining that it was just Daddy under the blanket and witch costume, he refused to take one step out of the living room, so we turned on all the lights and I went back to make sure the pirate's house was a funny pirate, not a scary pirate, after some coaxing, he allowed me to carry him back to the pirate's house and since he was still scared, we never made it to the pumpkin's house! The poor thing had nightmares all night long...and decided that he is "not a fan of trick-or treating"!!!!! I REALLY hope that he will get to experience the real fun of real trick-or-treating in the coming years, while he's still young. I was envious listening to my friends' stories of how much fun their kids had trick-or-treating this year. Unfortunately the concept of trick-or-treating still doesn't exist here, so I may just have to plan for a trip home around Halloween...which doesn't sound so bad after all, as what a treat it would be to go trick-or-treating with cousin Haley.

Without a doubt, the highlight of Halloween for Andrew was pumpkin carving. Andrew was excited from the moment we selected the biggest pumpkin in the store, and talked non-stop about carving it, until the moment finally arrived. I, of course, roasted the yummy seeds as always, but learned the hard way, that if you eat too many, you will definitely get a tummy ache!