The Eve of All Hallows
Thinking that hubby and I wouldn't have any plans for tonight, I prepared all my candy to give out to lil' trick or treaters. I honestly didn't think we'd get any at our complex simply because I haven't really seen any kids. Hmmm...could be a problem. We get a call from the deJesus fam inviting us to go trick or treating in their neighborhood. Let me just mention that the weather out tonight was a steady 39 degrees. Brrrrrr! Chilly! I end up staying at the house with Kumare sippin' on hot coffee while hubby accompanies Pare and the kids. After goin' house to house for about an hour, we end up going to another friends' house for dinner- a Pinay sista and Australian aussie and fam. Aussie mentions that there's this "haunted house" that's well-known for going all out in decorating for this auspicious holiday. At the mention of it, the kids got all creeped out. I also have to mention that I was really surprised at how many people decorate their homes for Halloween. People hang the orange lights, display their carved jack o'lanterns, stick ghastly ghosts and other evil things on their lawns and even play spooky music for ambience. It reminded me of that one neighborhood in South City that decorates their homes for Christmas and there are lines of cars that go around the block just to see the beautiful creative displays. Now if you can imagine that, imagine all of those efforts put into ONE house! I've been to haunted houses before, but nothing compares to this! We had to park around the block because the congestion around the house was filled with rubberneckers trying to take a peep. As we're walking there, you see the strobe lights flashing...as we get closer, you hear the creepy music...right when you turn the corner, you hear a chainsaw and people screaming. Aw dude, not cool. I couldn't believe it, but the entire front lawn was gated off and the fantastically horrifying displays were so real- it's like we stepped into a horror movie! The kids were too freaked out to go in, so us adults braved the "walk of doom." Now of course we all knew that underneath those scary costumes were real people, but for that split second when they jump up and grab you, you forget mighty quick! I don't even want to know where they get their props and whatnot, but these horror fanatics sure are creative and quite disturbing. Mare and Pare walked in front of us- twas so funny 'cuz Kumare kept trying to touch the props and say hello to the characters, but in a nervous kinda way. What was hilarious was how there'd be props that we thought were real people AND real people who we thought were props. You couldn't tell the difference and that's what freaked me out! When we went inside, there was this one particular creature standing in the corner...it was so still! People ahead of us walked right by it and nothing. I looked at it, but kept on moving. Kumare was asking for it...she did the poke and prod thang and wouldn't you know it? It yelled and scared the crap outta her! We also took a couple of pics with some of the characters...there is one of Kumare and myself...I must admit that I was freaked out, so we stood next to the "thing", but for some reason I had it in my mind that once the picture was taken that he'd grab us. I think Kumare thought the same thing, too! Right after hubby took the shot, we hella ran away from whatever it was! Too funny! The last pic was of hubby and i with "death guy." He's actually one of the characters behind the gate that sneaks up on people standing around. He came towards us and I just asked, "Hey, can we take a picture?" Then this voice, so surprisingly normal answers, "Why absolutely!" LOL! We started joking, "Hey! He speaks so well! He's so eloquent and articulate for a monster!" We chatted with him for a bit, asked him how long it took them to put everything together. Turns out that a bunch of friends collaborate together, it takes them about a week to set up, and they leave the display up for two weeks. This is the 8th year and they always make the news. They've become THE haunted house to go to each year and apparently, people come. We told Death that this was our first winter in MN and that we just moved from CA- said he detected a "California accent." Honestly, I don't know what he's talking about! Anyways, this has definitely been the coolest thing I've seen on Halloween....and that includes the Castro in San Francisco!

It's a Midwest Thing
Everyone knows that if the house light is on, that means there's candy. No light = no more candy. It's a known fact, right? Apparently out here in the Midwest, people leave buckets of candy outside their doors. No need to open and close the door each time kids ring the doorbell- just leave the goods at the door! When we heard this, it just seemed like the funniest thing 'cuz you definitely wouldn't see that in CA. Gee, someone leaves a bucket of candy outside, the first trick-or-treater that comes is straight going to take the whole damn thing! That'd be it- sorry kids, no more candy! Isn't that a trip?! Next thing you know, not only are some knuckle-headed kids going to take the bucket, but they're going to take anything else that's not bolted down to the ground! One word: ghetto. Yah, that's what we're used to, eh? Just another thing to get used to in lovely, but cold Minnesota.

*For pics of our Halloween adventure, check out hubby's blog:Doh-boy. *