Airheads vs. Snickers...

Halloween seems to be the holiday that Daddy has to miss the most. This year, not only was Kelly SO excited for the Halloween tradition of Vegas grandparents, but Daddy was able to be home, too! And as if that combination is not enough to get any four year old excited, we also rented a golf cart for maximum candy-collection potential. Grandpa needs hip surgery, so instead of a) making him stay home and hand out candy to the bad kids (more on that later) or b) watching him pretend he’s not in pain as he walks around the neighborhood and then saying he’s OK when we volunteer to go back early, we’ve started a new Halloween tradition involving stinky machinery. The maintenance golf cart was not electric, as we found out after smelling its gas burning emissions. However pungent our mode of transportation, it contributed to our best Halloween yet. Every time we passed a bunch of trick-or-treaters, Kelly would enthusiastically yell-out, “Happy Halloween!!!” I thought she was channeling her inner Santa Claus on his sled, shouting out merry sayings to passersby.


Now back to the “bad kids.” In past years, we have always left out a bowl of candy, hoping that the honest generation that so accurately embodies the kids in KY, would only take one bar. Yes, bar. Mike and his parents insist that we have to hand out whole bars. And while I prefer “different” candies like Airheads, Twizzlers, taffy and fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls, apparently the traditionally yummy candies are Milky Ways, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, and the like. So I buy these whole bars (which are expensive!) and buy the bars that I don’t like (and won’t get to eat when there are leftovers-I know- woe is me) and every year that we leave them out, a group of kids takes the whole bowl of candy, leaving none for subsequent treaters. Kelly remembered that last year, we even left a sign in the bowl that said, “Please take ONLY 1, so others can enjoy the fun!” So when she wanted to make another sign this year, I decided to word it differently…ahem…”We are out Trick-or-Treating. Be safe and come back later!” And then Kelly signed her name, naturally. While we were out and about, I made the comment that no one was taking all the candy out of the OTHER bowls that were left on the front steps ...everyone likes to laugh at my naivety, and this incident was no different. Kelly and I decided that the “bad kids” only come to our house, while Mike and his parents laughed at the fact that just because WE wouldn’t take more than one whole candy bar, almost every other kid on the planet would- even IF there was a sign warning against it. Plus, all the candy that was left out was bite-size or smaller. Well by the time we got back from our golf cart soiree, there weren’t any kids coming around anymore. So not only did we not hand out whole candy bars, we didn’t hand out bite-size candies, didn't make any kids happy, AND I’m now left with 32 bars of candy that I don’t like. Talk about horrible!


Anyway, back to the real story. Like I said, it was our best Halloween yet, as Kelly totally looked the part, enjoyed herself immensely, and even got to make some Halloween crafts and feast on Halloween treats at Terri’s house after trick-or-treating.
P.S. Kelly got to pick 3 candies to eat when we got back from candy collection. She picked 1. Dots 2. Taffy and 3. A Dum-Dum. Not to mention her first choice was a snack size pack of Teddy Grahams, which she suggested shouldn’t count since it’s not really candy. I must have been feeling generous! Who has the better taste in candy now?!?!?!