Halloween 2008

What is short and fuzzy and spotted all over? My two year old nephew dressed as a spotted owl for halloween. As the son of my orno-holic brother-in-law, it was only fitting that he go as a bird. Mom went all out as a clown, and dad as a scottish skeleton (strange, yes, I know). Meriah and Todd took turns as an alien. For an overcomercialized day of celebration, it was a great excuse to leave work early and have some fun with my family.
In my three decades in Calgary, I have not experienced a halloween evening more amenable to trick or treating. Nor have I had the pleasure of handing out candy in a neighborhood in which there is a constant stream of trick or treaters. My sisters neighborhood was teeming with children and the costumes were incredible. When it's not minus twenty degrees outside, there are a lot more costume ideas from which to choose. Erik held the fort at our house and we actually got a trick or treater, but there were no candy bars to be found in our house. I bet we were the only house in Calgary giving out Sharkies (slightly cooler than a clif bar in the eyes of a child).
When the trick or treating traffic died down and Rory was ready for bed, I headed to Nose Hill Park to meet up for Mical's halloween ride. Seventeen grown people, most of whom were in costume, riding through the paths at Nose Hill Park in the dark. Christmas came early to Calgary as our string of headlights and blinkers wrapped around the park that overlooks the city. I'm not sure at what age one stops partaking in activities like riding your bike on a trail in the dark, but I'm lucky enough to have friend's that have not figured out that they are past the age at which most people make that transition.
Between rediscovering the joys of both sides of trick or treating and the joys of riding even though it is dark and even though it is October, this was most definitely the best halloween ever.