02:34 PM ~ I'm a little late in posting about our first visit because it caught me so off-guard. I wasn't even in my costume yet! The doorbell rang sometime around 2pm, and I opened the door to find a mom, a little boy in a white t-shirt, and an even littler boy dressed as a fireman. They apparently rang both our neighbor's bell and ours at the same time, and we both answered at the same time, so attention was a bit split, but all three (mom, big boy, and little boy) took Twix bars. The mom was prompting the fireman with, "you know what to say!" but I don't think he did—he seemed torn between "thank you" and "trick or treat!", possibly because my neighbor and I were both staring out at him at the same time.
05:29 PM ~ Two very polite little skeletons just rang the bell. The larger of the two had to remove her skull to see what the candy options were; she then selected a little box of Junior Mints. The smaller skeleton decided to wing it, and he (I think it was a he) ended up with a Milky Way.
05:36 PM ~ A sweet little sprout in the arms of her mom just took a Snickers (and seemed a bit unnerved by my Patrick costume; did she think I was a big pink Klansman after all?), and her older sibling Spiderman dashed up the stairs to snatch a box of Dots and offer a breathless "thank you!"
05:42 PM ~ My Patrick hood is HOT! I put on my glasses to keep the fleece fuzz from getting stuck in my eyelashes, but they keep getting steamed up. I should have figured out how to incorporate a vent near my mouth...
05:58 PM ~ OH MY GOD, BONANZA! Apparently the neighborhood association Halloween party at the playground on our block just ended, and we got about 20 or 30 kids in a row. I can't see very well through the eyeholes in my Patrick hood, but even Al couldn't catch all the kids and their costumes (or the candy choices, sadly; we're now regretting that we didn't count each kind ahead of time so we could figure out what was chosen by seeing what was left at the end of the night).
There seemed to be two Nomar Garciaparras with devil masks, a lady bug, a voter box (complete with Kerry/Edwards stickers!), a hobo, several angels, cats, and witches, two Ninja Turtles, two Buzz Lightyears, a Hulk, a karate girl, a regular ninja, two dancers, and numerous other costumes I couldn't catch. A little dog tried to shake my (well, Patrick's) hand, but I didn't see him (I can only see forward, not down), so Al had to alert me to his presence. "Er, honey, he's trying to shake your hand." So cute.
06:14 PM ~ A cheetah, Godzilla, a cat, and a very small bat almost passed us by, but luckily Al (SpongeBob) and I (Patrick) were standing in the doorway to attract their attention. The mother of the bat confessed that she didn't know who we were, but the kids did. :)
06:17 PM ~ A couple witches and their cohorts just arrived, squealing with glee. They yelled, "THANK YOU SPONGEBOB, THANK YOU PATRICK!" as they made their candy choices.
06:19 PM ~ A teenage witch and her mom (both from Britain, judging from their accents—hello, Hermione!) just stopped by. The daugher was delighted with our costumes, and introduced us to her mom, who'd never seen SpongeBob SquarePants. "This is SpongeBob," she said sweetly, "and this is Patrick!"
06:26 PM ~ Three teenagers just arrived; I wasn't sure if they were wearing costumes or not, so I checked with Al. "What were they dressed as, college students?"
06:36 PM ~ We just received a visit from a bunny (about 12 or so) and her older sister (13 or 14, I'd say). I was squinting at the older one as best I could through my eyeholes, but I couldn't quite figure out what she was. "Are you a dancer?" I guessed, based on her ballerina-style pink wrap sweater. "No," she said, rather exasperatedly. "I'm the color pink."
06:45 PM ~ A pile of leaves (very clever!) and her pal just came by. I was so proud of myself for guessing that the latter was Alan Iverson before she even turned around to reveal the name on the back of her Sixers jersey, but she quickly corrected my error. "I'm a rapper," she said.
06:48 PM ~ Oh shit, I just sneezed inside my Patrick hood. Kleenex! Quick, I need a Kleenex!
06:56 PM ~ An Asian woman and her caucasian husband brought us Darth Vader (minus his helmet, which fell off somewhere along the way) and a very small leopard, who seemed either frightened or in awe of me. Vader was very impressive, until he tripped on the top step and went down.
The parents seemed to be having as much fun as we were with Halloween—more fun than the kids, even. On the way down the steps, the group ran into our next door neighbors, Spiderman and Spiderman's Dad With the Bad Teeth. "I've seen you before," said Vader. "No, that was a different Spiderman," said Vader's mom.
07:01 PM ~ Spiderman made his way up the stairs after dismissing Vader; he's our next door neighbor, and a native Russian speaker (that's what his parents speak at home, and he's too young for school yet). As Al handed him three pieces of candy, I said, "say spaciba, Spiderman!"
07:04 PM ~ A skeleton of about 9 or 10 just dashed up for her candy, and after a quick "thank you," dashed back down. "You didn't even look at their costumes!" said her dad. "Oh, I went as SpongeBob two years ago," she replied. "That's my costume from 2000," I said, jerking a thumb at Al. "He's just borrowing it this year." She didn't seem impressed.
07:20 PM ~ I wonder if we're done yet. I wouldn't be surprised, given that it's a Sunday (when Halloween falls on a weeknight it seems to go later because parents have to get home from work before the festivities can start). I also wouldn't mind; I'm tired and craving protein. Al and I are considering walking to Whole Foods to buy some fish. The question is: Should we change?
08:40 AM ~ That was indeed it for the night. Al postulated that Halloween ended earlier here not because it was a Sunday, but because we live in a city; parents don't want their kids out as late here. We did end up going to Whole Foods in costume, though I removed my hood for safety reasons. One of the checkers still recognized us as SpongeBob and Patrick, though. :)
This morning when I went out to get the trash cans off the sidewalk, one of my neighbors walked by, talking on a cell phone. I just smiled, so as not to interrupt his conversation. He saw me, looked down at the belly, and then covered the phone with his hand and said, "great costumes last night, by the way." I thanked him and then immediately started wondering what Al, I, and the baby could dress up as next year...