Last Halloween post, I swear. Our tradition for the past 4 years now, has been to trick-or-treat on Sycamore St. in Mill Valley, Cali (just trying to get an extra rhyme in) on Halloween night. Sycamore Street is such a popular place to trick-or-treat, word is, people are bussed in. Lucky for us, my parents live 3 or so blocks from Sycamore. This event has become something Isabella looks forward to all year long.
On our hour-long drive to my parents house, on All Hallow's Eve, Isabella asked if we were "in Mill Valley yet" in 3 minute intervals. Mark and I were listening to some Very Important News story on NPR, and grew weary of her interruptions. So, as any good parent would do, I finally told Isabella that we had another 45 minutes to drive and the new rule was that there would be no more talk about Mill Valley. "Ok" she complied, as Mark and I turned our attention back to the radio. A moment of silence passed. "I think I just heard the lady mention 'Sycamore Street' on the radio," said she from the back seat.
We are in so much trouble.
This year's trick-or-treating will go down in the history books as one of our favorites. For it was the year that Isabella lost all fear. And it was the year that it poured down rain--and we loved every second of it.
Our little Golden Bear Cub Cheerleader ran to every house, knocked every door, said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and "boo" (which after a while morphed into: "trickortreatthankyouboo") to every giver of candy she encountered. We adults scrambled to make sure Isabella was covered, as she sped through the crowds, racing down the street.
The rain didn't stop her. The spooky creatures didn't phase her. She seemed to have one goal in mind: GET THE CANDY AND GET OUT (which was both hysterical and alarming at the same time.)
She was having a ball, though. When she got too wet, she threw on her rain coat and boots. There were no complaints, there was no whining. She loved the costumes people were wearing and gave pep talks to the kids who were too afraid to approach houses with scary monsters. "Come on, it's not scary!"
See the Werewolf? Yea, nice try, werewolf.
What creepy old man? All I saw was a basket of candy.

Even Elijah, the 6 year old ahead of us, wouldn't patronize this house because of this skeleton that made eerie noises. Isabella went right up to the skeleton, shook its hand, and started talking to it, probably hoping it would give her candy. Hysterical. Alarming??
We made our way back to my parents' house, soaked, but happy. Isabella indulged on a few treats and the rest of us indulged on mom's mac n' cheese and Matthew's birthday cake, which we finally got around to eating.