bad news and good news

That minivan I was waiting for? Hit by a tornado. Seriously. Before I took possession, fortunately. The dealership it was located in was hit, it was damaged, and that's the end of that. Our dealer has found another, nearly identical vehicle (no cargo net in the replacement - color me undisturbed) so we have to stop by the dealership again tomorrow and sign off on car number two, then wait a few extra days to receive it. Hopefully it'll arrive before we go camping this weekend. Without any more weirdness.

Nick spent most of Halloween day lying on the sofa looking miserable. It was the most boring Halloween day we've had in years. We couldn't go anywhere, and a lot of the fun stuff I'd had planned didn't happen. We ate a dinner I threw together at the last minute, for example, because eating Monster Toes and Cheesy Corns while he was too sick to join us seemed more than a little mean - I always fix something special for Halloween, and he'd been excitedly waiting to see what it would be this year. When trick-or-treat time drew near, Nick decided he was to ill to go along, a decision I endorsed. I got Zoe in her costume, Rich went to the front porch, and Nick settled down to watch Wallace and Gromit. Zoe rode her wagon and quickly grasped the essentials of the evening - she never learned to say "trick or treat", but she was happy to holler out "candy!"."And "tank you", because she is a polite little girl. We walked down the block, collecting goodies and complements and stuffing our faces, for about half an hour. Then I got a call.

Nick had changed his mind. He was desperate to go along, the thought of missing out was just too painful. We walked back, helped Nick into his costume, and set out again. He held up all right. We visited a great many houses, on up to the famous Inflatables House several blocks down. It was jam-packed, but we fought through the crowds, holding hands to stay together. Last year we spent a lot of time looking at the inflatables themselves - this year Nick was interested in the haunted house. Zoe was agreeable, so we went through. That was probably a mistake - it was pretty scary. Nick started off laughing at the people who leaped out at us, but by the end he had his fingers in his ears and was saying "I'm not scared, I'm not scared" in a not particuarly convincing fashion. Zoe was looking alarmed too. No, I don't think I did serious psychological damage to either. But they were glad ot be out of there. Sheer greed and endorphins kept Nick moving forward for almost an hour, when he finally announced that Zoe looked tired. Which she did; I let the comment pass without challengeand we headed home.

Zoe ate even more candy at home. She has never in her life been permitted to gorge on that much junk food, and she clearly thought she was in heaven. It wasn't long before I hauled her off to bed, though, because she was clearly exhausted. I'm not sorry to have missed the sugar crash.  Nick didn't eat a bite, another sign of how sick he still was. He methodically spread out all his goodies and categorized and counted them, instead, which seemed to bring him much satisfaction. I sent him off to bed soon enough, too.

The next morning Nick still looked lousy, so we skipped church and stayed home again. By evening he was much recovered, and finally ate some dinner. I don't think Nick has ever gone two days without eating before; he's in no danger of starving to death but it was worrisome. Today he headed off to school and was just fine. Zoe, meanwhile, wanted to hop in the wagon and go get more candy. I guess Halloween made an inpression on her. 

I don't have a really great picture of the kids in costume this year; that's one of the things that didn't happen this time. This one from Boo at the Zoo two weeks ago is the best one with the pair of them.