The Pumpkin King and the Indecisive Trick-or-Treater

Both of my boys have loved Halloween since just about forever. As toddlers, strolling through stores to check out the holiday displays counted as a genuine outing. They have been pumped for weeks, and they had a blast.

Calvin wanted to be something gruesome and ghoulish, but when we vetoed any accessories that looked like they were designed to tear flesh he instead chose a clone trooper outfit.

Jack and Zero

Finn wanted to be Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, so we marked up a cheap tuxedo, scribbled a paper-plate mask, stitched up a felt bat bowtie, and made a little Zero costume for Boo-Boo to wear.

We spent the weekend at Disneyland. The first day, Finn wore his Jack Skellington costume much of the day and was trailed by lots of compliments (most along the lines of "best costume ever!").

The boys have been leery of many rides — even Pirates of the Caribbean is on the no-go list because of the brief drop near the ride's start. To entice them to try some new rides, I offered adventure pins: For each new ride they ventured on, they'd earn a pin. Once they earned three pins, they got double the souvenir cash.

Proudly showing off their earned pins

It worked better than I expected! We did mostly new rides: They enjoyed the Haunted Mansion, decked out for the Nightmare Before Christmas; Mr. Toad's Wild Ride; Soarin' Over California, which I thought would be too much for them (and indeed, they say they're glad they did it but once was enough); Pinocchio; and Star Tours, which was such a runaway hit we went on it three times. They chose Lego sets for souvenirs, which have proven so absorbing in the days since that we could barely get Calvin to break away for trick-or-treating.

One small tragedy: Boo-Boo disappeared at some point, either lost to hotel housekeeping or overlooked in a late-night parking lot tumble. On Halloween, Finn carried an empty Zero costume and ended up using it like a puppet in his class performance.

Finn took the loss in stride. He's shared the news with his teachers and his dentist, but isn't upset. Today he had a pretend phone conversation with Boo-Boo, who said he's vacationing in Japan for 70,000 days. I, however, am a little misty-eyed. Doug tracked down a replacement on eBay, and Boo-Boo III should be here by week's end.

Finn enjoyed doing "The Monster Mash" with his classmates and making crafts at school. He's especially proud of a roll of toilet paper wrapped up to look like a pumpkin and a cheesecloth ghost.

Capt. Rex at his school party

Calvin wore his new clone trooper costume in his school's parade, but complained that it was too big and too hot. He was still working out the details of his replacement costume minutes before trick-or-treating (makeup or no makeup? zombie? warlock?), settling on an all-purpose witch/warlock/zombie/ghoul outfit from two years back with a last-minute mask addition.

Ready to hit the streets

They ran through the neighborhood that night — Finn had no patience for circling close to home, grousing at us: "You don't understand how trick-or-treating works!" But eventually even he grew tired of pounding the pavement and retired to home, where the kids ate candy and handed out treats to late trick-or-treaters. There's a slideshow below; if you just get a Flash player message and don't want to be bothered, click here to browse on Flickr.

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