We were at our friends, Dave and Verona's when Dave asked what we were doing for Halloween. I hadn't a clue but i knew I wanted to take Penny out for her first trick or treating. After discovering our lack of planes Dave suggested we join them for trick or treating in Pasadena. Suggesting we park at their friends house and we would walk around a neighborhood. Well, little did I know that the friend was having a party and the neighborhood we walked around in contained they huge 80-100 craftsman style homes that were eager to out decorate their neighbors aka Christmas Griswald style. The result, was we had one heck of a Halloween! We were told to arrive at Sara's house at 5:30pm. Penny immediately took interest in Sara's two little dogs. In addition to her crazy love for "babies" she now has a "super crazy love" for small dogs. We stayed in Sara's alley way until Sara who was cooking in her kitchen with the window open assumed I was Verona's Kelly and invited us in. Sara's place, which was in the cutest of cute neighborhoods was decorated for Halloween. Immediately you were immersed in festiveness. I also noticed that she had been cooking. We were in for a dinner. I had no idea! Dave and Verona were not too far behind and intact showed up as we were just entering the house. Verona had dressed up as cop wearing her dad's LA PD uniform and Dave dressed up like Brian aka in nothing. I decided to be a witch. My recent weight loss allowed me to fit into an old witches outfit so of course I decided to take the opportunity to dress up as I love Halloween! A few other friends of Sara's arrived. We met her son Gabriel a cute 12 year old with a nice smile. We were all treated to dinner which consisted of soup, chile, bread and a few salads. It was a perfect offering for a fall night. I had Verona's Chicken Tortilla soup which was sooooo very good. In fact I had a second bowl. Penny, who normally hates cheese had a hard time finding something to eat as she refused the chicken in the soup finally settled on eating a stack of shredded Mexican cheese and a lot of avocado chunks aka the toppings to the soup and chile. Luckily I brought some of her favorite Cresent Rolls to add to her meal. The evening was enchanting. Although I did think we were never going to get to the trick or treating but alas, everyone got there thing together and we left the house in a group. Penny immediately took a liking to Gabriel. She always likes older male children. And she took a liking to another older girl. The two of them took Penny's hand on either side and literally walked her around the neighborhood. They never left her side. I thought that was so very awesome of these preteen children. They evening carried Penny at the end. It was so sweet. We did some practice runs in Sara's neighborhood. Penny took to trick or treating immediately. She was a little cranky since waking up from her nap but this new activity immediately changed her attitude back into an excited, happy one. She was so very cute holding her big orange plastic pumpkin that most people couldn't help but give her more than one piece of candy! By the time we got to "the street" Penny was a pro trick or treater. "The Street" was the longest street I have ever seen. In fact, we never made it to the end. It was a trick or treaters dream. The houses were all dressed like it was Christmas and more amazing was several houses had a theme. Like the sausage factory or the "Scream" house. My favorite house and the one declared the neighborhood winner (by me) was a house that had a dancing witch, a huge glowing skull, a porch full of partiers, tons of lights oh and did I mention, bubble machines. Penny loves bubbles and thought this was amazing. I would have loved to known what she was thinking in that little "Minnie Mouse" head of hers. All I can say was it was fun watching her experience the holiday. Sara's group was a fun bunch and they all enjoyed watching little Penny tackle each house. I think they found their youth in watching her. 
