At least there's Halloween

In spite of all the sickness that is flying around these acres, Papa has managed to stay healthy, unlike the rest of us. Unfortunately for him, that has meant that he has been called on quite a bit to assist all the rest of us who can't take care of ourselves. He made a 10pm run on Wednesday night to the pharmacy to pick up antivirals for all his sickies, and was in charge of picking up pizza and a few groceries on Friday evening on his way home. But at least on Saturday, he got to do something that he really loves. And no, I'm not talking about the tonnes of recycling he loaded up and took to town. He was able to take his grandkids trick-or-treating. Tyler and I had talked that if we weren't healthy enough to go, then we'd just post-pone halloween and ask a few of our friends to open their doors to our kids and dole out some candy on a day when we all felt up to it. The kids were feeling much better by Saturday, I was marginal, and Tyler was still the worst off. Papa volunteered his services, so we decided to give it the go ahead and venture out. Of course, Max was a lot more perky at 2pm than he was at 6pm, but in theory he was feeling better. He ended up being carried by Papa the entire time, but enjoyed his time outside still the same. I was responsible to sit in the van and watch and take a few pictures when I could, so I could still be part of their exciting day. We started with a trip to Big Hill Lodge where Great Grandpa lives to visit the seniors who had set up in the lobby to great kids. I'm not sure how many kids they actually get, but it was nice. I stayed outside in the van to ensure I didn't spread germs into the Lodge. They got some chips and candy right off, and that set Lucy a-going. As we drove to another part of town (about 3 1/2 minutes away) to meet up with little Jacob, Lucy said, "I wish that you didn't have to stop at red lights on Halloween...that way we could just get there!" She was excited. It was a beautiful night for trick-or-treating, yet again. My kids are getting spoilt, two years in a row. I can't ever remember halloween's like this. We met up with Jason, Ali and Jacob, took a few pictures, and then headed to see Auntie Jo (Janie's sister). She was handing out glow sticks, which Lucy loved, and Max didn't really care for until we got home later. Then we hit about 25 houses on a side street. Lucy ran from house to house, with Jacob pretty close behind her, and Max up on Papa's shoulders or in his arms as much as possible. It took about an hour to do that many houses. Their bags were full, and they were content on that being enough. There is definitely wisdom on using a limited size bag instead of a pillowcase. What were my parent's thinking? Lucy enjoyed waving to me in the van as I watched their progress, and shouting out what loot they had picked up at the previous house. She also made friends with a little Bunny girl who she thought was, "so cute".
We stopped to get some milk and then headed home full of treats. They managed to each eat a bag of plain chips, smarties, a sucker and some juicebox in the 10 minutes we took to get home. I was glad I got to see them, and that we had at least a tiny bit of energy to make Lucy's week.
Max has since told me that smarties and 'kitty-kats' (kit kats) are his favorites.