The Halloween Post

Well, I supposed I need to post about Halloween. I should have written this post that night, or perhaps the day after, but I am swamped with not much time on my hands. But since I need to have it fresh in my mind, I'm taking a little bread from work right now to take care of it.

This year, like last year (I think), Cobalt went as a clown. He wore the costume that his uncle Mark and his father both wore when they were kids. Although I think we wore them when we were about a year older. His Great-Grandmother Strahle made the costume, and g.ma and g.pa have kept them in a box in their crawl space all this time, just waiting for the day that they could give them to a grandchild. Thanks Mom and Dad!

We didn't really go all out this year, or at least that was the plan. Both Kyle and I have been busy with work and things like workin g on the yard and fixing my car that we haven't really had that much time to worry about Halloween. In fact, we were lucky to get out at all. So we didn't even bother to put any clown make-up on the boy, or even try to get him to wear the cap that goes with the outfit. The pom-pons on the front of the jumpsuit were not put back on, either. We've also blown off going to a pumpkin patch and carving punkins, as well. But none of this was lost on Cobalt. I think he knew something was up. Afterall, he got to carve punkins at school, and everytime we've passed one in the last couple of weeks he's screamed, "ABIDAS!"

For what I think is the first time ever, Kyle and I were able to pick Cobalt up from school, together. What a treat! We even brought the dogs with us, so that we could wander back through the park in order let them do their thing so that we could stay out with me worrying or having to rush home or even take them out when we got home.

This year, we had plenty of options for parties and trick-or-treating, too. We had an invite over to Beckett's for his annual monster bash. The neighborhood had a party that included fun and games at a local cafe' as well as a blocked-off street party. And lastly, we were invited over to Kyle's boss's house for cocktails, too. Because of Kyle's recent accolades and title-promotions at work recently, we opted for the latter of the three.

So we headed out to 29th and California, out close to the area of San Francisco known as Sea Cliff - an exclusive neighborhood that overlooks Baker Beach, the Presidio and the Marin Headlands and is home to many famous wealthy folks like Robin Williams. And since I mention him here, I continue by saying that yes, we did stop at his house (Kyle wasn't very impressed by it) to get a glow stick but more on that in a moment.

Apparently, unbeknownst to myself, Sea Cliff is like a Mecca for trick-or-treaters from all over SF and elsewhere. The three of us were a minority in this neighborhood for the following reasons: we are neither rich or in high school, and english is our first language (bet you couldn't tell from my grammar, huh?). The streets of the neighborhood were swamped with people. I'd say there were at least a hundred or so folks outside of the Robin Williams house at any given time. And the neighbors definitely take advantage of it.

I didn't get many pictures of the decorations, but probably should have. Many of the homes had displays, ranging from large inflatable pumpkins to dracula climbing from a coffin (Bill's and Ruth's). Many, many houses had jack-o-lanterns out, indicatint that they had candy for the kids. Some of these people must have spent a few hundred dollars on candy there were so many visitors.

So I mentioned Bill's & Ruth's above. For those of you that don't know, Bill is Kyle's boss at work. The reason we were out in that neighborhood in the first place was that they had invited us and other colleagues, friends, neighbors, etc. over for adult treats. We were outside in front for a while, watching Coffin Guy scare the bejeezes out of the kids (and some adults, too). His schtick was that he was kind of mechanical... almost fake, but very real. Cobalt stood about 8 ft away, staring at the guy, trying to figure out what was going on. The person in the chair next to Coffin Guy was the Candy Phantom...a lady with a mask like the Phantom of the Opera's, sitting with a bowl of candy on her lap. He would make a move, then go back. Their was another kid there too, and he stood behind his mother. Coffin Guy was taking it easy on the little guys, not really stirring or trying to scare them. Cobalt started to make a move, and the cast and crew urged him on...but he came back. A few moments later, however, he made his move. While staring straight at Coffin Guy, Cobalt made a bee-line for Candy Phantom's bowl. Coffin Guy stayed laying down, barely moving his eyes, as Cobalt scored the swag and returned with his prize. The other boy (who was 3-1/2) was still behind his mother when the amassing crowd cheered and applauded Cobalt for his bravery. What a guy!

We then entered Bill's house, studying it as we enetered (it was our first time there). We made our way to the gathering back by the kitchen and breakfast table. (Where else, but in the kitchen? Why do parties all end up in the kitchen. Cobalt made us sit down at the table, after Kyle got a bit of food. Cobalt was playing with the chips and dip, while we were enjoying our break with a glass of wine. Just as we were settling in , we heard the sound...cccrraaaaasssssshhhhhhh.

I'm sure a stream of profanities left my mouth when I turned to discover what I already knew. Cobalt had found the clay vases on the credenza and smashed one on the floor. What were we to do? Cobalt had just broken a valuable at his mommy's BOSS's house!

Thankfully, Bill is a swell guy. He simply swept the shards out of the way and said "don't worry about it...I guess our house is no longer child-proof." Then he went about with the party as though nothing happened.
After a while, Cobalt started to get antsy again, so I decided it was time for us to go, so as not to have anything else ruined. I honestly, thought that we were going to go home. But when we left the house, Cobalt turned left instead of right and headed for the next Jack-o'-lantern. He contined to hit what seemed like every house in a 2 block radius, filling his bag with candy and not slowing down. He would occasionally let out a "trk-trt" and always "bye-bye". When we went passed the car, we got in and headed home.
Back in our neighborhood, Cobalt wasn't done. He didn't want to go in the house and we wanted to see what the rest of the neighborhood looked like. We headed out and right next to the apartment building where I used to live, and Cobalt was conceived, was an open garage filled with people, food (a buffet), drinks and candy. Cobalt got some goodies, and we continued on to see the rest of the hood. By then it was mostly shut down, and we heard tales of the loads of people and just about everyone ran out of candy. Overally, it looked like a success! We decided that we would stick around the neighborhood next year.
We stopped again at the garage down the street for a nightcap and some non-candy food. We got back home just before 11 and Cobalt examined his treasures: