Halloween

San Jose is really just a hop, skip, and a jump away, but we haven't spent a lot of time there.  When Josh was in school, he didn't want to ever take a whole day off from studying, so we tended to stay close to home.  Now that he's blackbirding, we have the opportunity to get out a bit more.  So we went up to Happy Hollow park and zoo.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the parking fee (normally $10) was only $3 for military (or was it 2?? I can't remember).  And the tickets themselves (normally $12) were $11 for military at the gate.  So that made a $46 trip into a $35 trip.  Always nice to save a few bucks.  The kids were entertained brushing the goats, but they had the most fun digging in the sand and unearthing dinosaur fossils with big blue brushes.  We happened to go the day before Halloween, so they had a special trick-or-treating session in the afternoon.  My guys weren't really in to that, and we quickly lost patience with the random tantrums being thrown by the four year old, so we ended up cutting our trip short.  BUT - the park was really nice, and we had beautiful weather. I wish it were closer because it seems like a place that we'd be better able to visit in many short trips than a single long trip.  And really, what parent of small children wants to spend an hour driving home when their kids have really had it??

Trick or treating was a big hit with the kids last night.  B was much more into it this year than he was last year, and there were a lot more kids his age going around together, so I think he felt like he was part of a group instead of being by himself.  Since we didn't get a single trick-or-treater last year (and I really can't blame them for not wanting to walk up our hill), Josh decided to come with us.  K was a bit slower than B, but she was pretty excited and even managed to say something that sounded vaguely like "trick or treat".  She needed a bit of encouragement to get close enough for people to actually put candy in her bucket, but she had a good time.  We only hit about 30 houses or so (is that alot?) before B told me that he was pretty sure he had enough candy.  I told him that clearly he was not my child, and then agreed that we could head back to the car.  On the way, we ran into a fellow South Asian FAO who had a Pakistani officer from NPS that he was sponsoring in tow.   I have to wonder if this sort of custom seems strange, or if there's some equivalent in other cultures.  I've heard the embassy sponsors a Halloween trick or treat session for the kids, but I'm guessing next year won't be anything like what we experienced this year.  Here's to one more thing that will just be "different" next year :)