Halloween 2021

Halloween is back at Fort Huachuca and the girls were excited as ever to go out trick-or-treating on post. With the Trunk-or-Treat event happening right next to our house and the girls getting the hang of “efficient” trick-or-treating, our last Halloween on Fort Huachuca was sure to be one to remember.

As always, the girls got to decide if they wanted to do family costumes, matching / complimentary costumes, or just what they want individually. They choose the latter this year, with Elaina choosing to go as Pikachu and Gabriella going as a standard witch (and she kept reminding me that she was not a witch from Hocus Pocus, so glad we cleared that up). And since Elaina also dressed up as Pikachu for her Pokemon-themed birthday, she got two outfits out of me this year.

Unfortunately, because I was going through the AIM Marketplace, I did not have the time or energy to put up all the Halloween decorations this year. Thankfully, the girls did not seem to mind much, as their eyes were solely focused on what types and how much candy they were going to get this year. Crazy kids and their one track mind, right?

The first of the three major events on post was the Garrison Trunk-or-Treat, which is always a big hit. After the girls got dressed up and grabbed their personalized bags, we walked the quarter mile to get in line for the event. As always, showing up 30 minutes early landed us about 20th in line, saving us at least an hour after the majority of the people showed up on-time or fashionably late. There was a great turnout of cars this year, and as far as the girls were concerned, they all gave out pretty good candy (in my opinion, the two best cars were the Coming to America car, where the entire family dressed up as the Royal Family of Zamunda, and the Game of Drones car, were the people dressed up as Game of Thrones characters that were surrounded by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

The girls had an absolute blast during the event, but got so much candy that I had to carry their bags back to the house for them (and when we left, the line was now fully around the block, so great timing, Dad).

After they dumped out all their candy and got two sweets for the night, they began trading with each other and then filtered out any candies that they were not going to eat (these went straight to my office for my team, because on Day 5, even those Almond Joys and Tootsie Rolls are going to start to look pretty good). We skipped the Haunted Hayride this year, but the girls were good with that given it can still be a little scary for kids.

That leads us to the big event, Halloween evening and trick-or-treating on post. While last year they opted to hand out candy in lieu of going door-to-door, this year they definitely wanted to go out.

We were meeting with another family to go trick-or-treating together (one of my instructors whose son is in 1st Grade with Gabriella), so they were happy to hand out candy for an hour. They still refer to trick-or-treaters as “customers,” which is always a hoot, and enjoyed seeing all the costumes of their friends while they handed them candy. That is one thing that we are certainly going to miss about Fort Huachuca; it is such a small post and community that everyone seems to know one another.

After doing a loop and going through the most lucrative trick-or-treating location on post (yes, I am talking about you, Signal Village), we headed up towards the historic homes; hopefully, if things work out, we will be living in one of these homes at some point in the future. At least it is a pretty solid goal to have.

Along the path, we had to cross the street to stay out of the way of a pack of Javelinas that was out trick-or-treating as well. Call me crazy, but I am definitely going to miss all the wildlife on Fort Huachuca that always seems to be right in your front yard (except the scorpions though; I will not be missing them).

After the girls went through their routine and I levied the “Dad Tax” on their candy hoards, we called it a night. With another successful Halloween in the books, we look forward to the Christmas season on Fort Huachuca, our annual Cookie Decorating Party, and our vacation to Walt Disney World with the Grandparents the week before Christmas. In thinking about my first substantive post on this blog, about Halloween 2018, it is hard not to get a little sentimental about how much the girls have grown in the past three years and how much we have accomplished as a family. I have more to say in my Anniversary post about this, but the thought of how far we have come always brings a tear to my eye. While I am sure we will always find a way to carry on, I can only hope that Fort Campbell will be as much of a thrilling adventure for the Calkins Family as Fort Huachuca has been.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Cheers!