Happy Halloween!

Halloween events in Bangalore India were as expected somewhat unique. Again those favorite visitors had brought a whole bunch of Halloween candy so that was awesome - some for my team and some for us. Another visitor (thanks Laurie) brought a special bag for Caden (which he got, less one package of nerds and one twizzlers - oops). And Tracy brought back a fun stash for what she termed her "fourth kid". So we had some of the right candy.
Wade and Caden went in search of pumpkins, a sort of green/orange gourd, and carved one up for us and sent one over to the Murphy's (the big one incidentally, as Caden wanted to keep the one he could carry all by himself).
The swaying palm trees and monsoon rain belied the change of scenery a bit as we didn't need to search for the polar fleece costume or navigate the pumpkin patch before the frost. Caden had settled on being a fighter pilot (unclear on the costume here as he firmly believes he IS a fighter pilot). But he had his new flight suit from his birthday.
Of course, come time for the party, he decided he wanted to wear his older suit, a now-too-small astronaut suit, but with his flight helmet, and naturally his Power Rangers mask as well. Oh and the astronauts these days apparently roll up their pants. Really. If I had any say here, it doesn't show. "What the heck" is what I went with - it's Halloween in India! Very scary I should think. Or whatever.
At work, it took a lot less explaining for Halloween to catch on... my team was awesome (perhaps in 20 years and a few degrees, Caden will catch up), and they came up with the idea of a costume contest, but with Target dogs. They also got scary masks and spooked around the building. It was a super, super fun day at work and really a highlight of the Holiday.
That's Nandini's and my entry at the left - BatDog. I thought it was pretty good...my part was just stealing Caden's pillow while he slept. Nandini sewed the costume herself - super cool and attention to detail that included the belt!
I have to say my favorite dog was "FP&A dog" with each of our teams represented, our projects/reports repository handbag, and each of our initiatives shown as feathers in the cap...this team really challenges the old stereotype about Finance vs. creativity.
On the homefront, Halloween day again brought out Caden's creativity and independence (where does this kid come from??). He flatly refused to dress up for school as required, telling me "the party is at night mom". Even as I dropped him off amidst a sea of little spidermans, Power Rangers, and princesses, he confidently assured me "I'll wear my costume tonight mom". Okie dokie then.
Trick or treating in Palm Meadows was a little stressful honestly. By 3pm, we were running late, Tracy was trying to leave for Pondicherry, Caden ran off to go to Grayce's house (but went ahead one lane too far) and we lost him, then I lost my guest new to Bangalore, then I missed a conference call with my Vice President as my Treo slipped into the wrong time zone and failed to alarm, then with Wade and Tracy's driver Sarvanan out searching, I finally found Caden bawling with a strange woman looking alarmed up and down the street (presumably wondering where is this poor kid's unfit mother), then I found my guest, then I had a different call to make, then everyone had moved across the neighborhood, then the doorbell rang with trick-or-treaters, then we went to Gerald and Petra's for a Halloween drink (ok two), our guests ran away before dinner, I started checking my emails again ('nuf said) and then we declared they day over.
Thank goodness, in Bangalore, November 1st is a holiday - day off.