Halloween 2021

Shane and I went shopping for paint after church. It was a Carrie request.

Lowe's was out. The shelves looked bare and the employee said, "We have what we have and we're not due to receive any new shipments until 2022."

I don't know about other places, but there have been more gaps on store shelves lately from the global supply crunch.

But I was able to find a can of yellow spray paint at a store closer to the airport. It was a further drive, but Shane and I had a good Audiobook.

Carrie wanted the paint for the finishing touches on my costume. That's right! This is a Halloween post! If you thought it was going to be something else, you got tricked and you're in for a treat!

Carrie and Shane are both big My Hero Academia fans.

Shane wanted to be Deku, his favorite character, for Halloween. Carrie was happy to buy him a costume.

Carrie bought her costume piecemeal and put it all together. She was The Smile Hero: Ms Joke! 

She picked Ms. Joke, because A) she likes the character, and B) Ms. Joke likes to poke fun at Mr. Aizawa who teaches Shane's character. Ms. Joke: "Hello, Future Husband!"

That should tell you who I was dressed up as: Shota Aizawa. We're both teachers.

Carrie made me try on the costume and took a picture, but I never got it. You'll be able to see me in costume later on.

Our first stop of the night was in Scottsville. The downtown businesses, some local groups, and churches put on the event.

I drove, because Carrie's costume didn't allow her to sit. There as no flex in the shorts! She leaned the car seat back and half fell into it! She was willing to put up with a couple hours of discomfort for an A+ costume (but that willingness shrunk the longer she was in it!).

Carrie brought a bag full of smiley face buttons to hand out as we went.

"Do you want a smile?" She'd ask.

I'm so glad I captured this smile on camera! Carrie tried to treat the people giving kids treats. She normally doesn't like to draw much attention to herself, but it was Halloween and she was in character!

Shane was candy focused. He looked forward to a big haul!

He'd turned his nose down when I'd offered him a grocery bag. "I want a big bag that won't break if it's full of lots of candy!" he declared.

We parked on the north side of town. We walked south and turned at the gas station to trick or treat at the Methodist church we used to frequent. 

We crossed the street when we didn't see any other action down that way.

Carrie gave an officer a smiley face as we walked past the police station.

There was a line of people coming out from the farmer's market pavilion.

It was trunk or treat o'clock!

We hopped in line to go around. Shane photo-blocked.

I've never decorated a car for trunk or treat. Maybe we'll do it and pass out candy on day when Shane's older, because no one's going to knock on our barn.

It wasn't as busy as The Lawn, but there was an impressive amount of people for Scottsville.

UVA cancelled trick or treating on The Lawn again this year, so it wasn't even an option.

I think the local folk did an amazing job making an event for all of the kids. It was definitely a blessing!

Shane stopped to sample some of his haul when we finished walking through the downtown area. I wish Shane had a local best friend we could've walked with, but he saw kids from his school and even said hi to a teacher as we walked around.

I thought Shane and I would drop Carrie off at home before going out for Round 2, but we did not. Carrie requested a specific neighborhood: Laura and Amy's! Amy had told Carrie their streets drew people from all over over.

They let us park in front of their house and took some family photos, too!

The first house we came across the owner told Shane he could get extra candy if he impressed her with a trick.

He was game!

And he got extra candy for it, too!

It was only a pair of streets, but most of the houses were decorated, there were lots of cars parked, and way more people around than could possibly live there. There seemed to be some sort of communal treat station in the cul-de-sac.

They gave out pizza and cider in addition to candy!

Best treats ever! I almost asked for some myself!

All I got was a selfie while Shane ate (I plan on collecting the Peanut M&M's and other unfavorable candies from Shane's bag later!).

It was a great pair of streets. They're officially on our radar for Halloween next year!

Some of the decorations got even better as darkness fell. 

Shane would have loved to have stayed in the area longer just to look at some of them, but Carrie was at her limit.

We made our way back through all the houses and then it was time to call it a night.

I was a little worried Halloween would feel a little flat this year, but everything worked out great! Hopefully, we'll find a friend to walk around with us next year and all the COVID precautions will be a thing of the past.