Trick or treating & 4th Street (in the snow, wind & rain)

One of the many perks of not having tiny humans is that I get to be exempt from trick or treating & other kid related nonsense'ness'.... AND since I live in the country, the only trick or treaters I ever got were my niece & nephews & they're all grown up now so I don't have anything to do with Halloween...  

However; on the coldest Halloween in recent history I was allll out & about making merry...

Our buddy, Brian, was going to take the T-rex he built out into their neighborhood w/ the kiddos on Halloween night.  Shauna had asked me if I would like to tag along & we planned to wear our cave woman costumes.  See the theme here?

Since most of you have kids, you know the weather on Halloween wasn't 'ideal'.  Brian had a really tough time in the T-rex costume because the wind was so strong.  It would nearly knock him over & it was taking all his strength just to keep upright.  Shauna had to end up rescuing him & putting the costume back in the trailer & poor Brian was done trick or treating for the night.

They borrow a 'Gator' from their father in law & usually her & her sister in law drive it around & the kids go door to door & jump in the back when they get tired.  Shauna & I walked in the cold, dreary weather.  We were both bundled up over our costumes - her w/ a jacket & me wrapped in a blanket.  We had even broke out the winter gloves, people.  

We passed a guy who said, "Hey you all - the rain is coming soon.'  but we continued on....

First came the cold rain, then it started to snow... We were really really far back in the subdivision.  The kids decided soon after they saw snow that they were trick or treated out & Shauna's sister in law loaded them into the Gator & she took off for home.    

We walked & walked & walked & walked waiting for Tricia to come back & get us in the car.  We stopped at Darth Vadar's house because he had a fire for us to thaw our hands out while we waited.  (I had given my gloves to their son, Dylan, & Shauna gave hers to her daughter, Ally.  We're givers...)

After drying out from trick or treating, we still had more plans for the night.

Brian had decided that afternoon to enter his T-rex costume in the contest at 4th Street Live that night.  It's not a one man job so he had to be able to line up some helpers before he committed.  B-rad said he'd be able to help him & voila - a plan was born!  

Around 10:45 Halloween night we all ended up at 4th Street for a costume contest.

And I hadn't even taken a nap...

 There was MAJOR excitement over the T-rex at 4th Street.  While he was walking in the announcer said, "Oh shit - there's a T-REX. The costume contest just got real interesting..."

And ya'll - it was still freakin' cold outside. The wind was blowing like crazy but luckily we couldn't feel it too much in the middle of 4th Street because the buildings blocked it.

 Brian stood in the same spot for about an hour & a half.  As you can imagine it's difficult to navigate & with all the people around it made it even more so.   Lots of people had their picture taken with him.  

(Later in the night we saw this Spiderman surprise his girlfriend with a proposal on stage.  Of course I loved it & 'ooohed & ahhhhed'...but if B-rad did something like this I would kill him.  A slow & painful death....)

 There were tons of people hanging around.  Most were in costume but we didn't wear ours. A lot of the costumes were really cool, inventive & creative...but there was also a fair share of slutty costumes as well.  

 When it was time for the contest (at midnight) we moved closer to the stage area & then we didn't have the protection of the buildings to block the wind.  It was COLD & there were even flurries.  Brian had to navigate a super steep ramp just to get up on stage.  I don't know how he did it!

They take all the contestants pictures when they register, then the staff decides on the top 3 for each category:  Group, sexy & most creative.  The winner in each group is decided by audience cheering.

This guy was amazing & I'm glad that Brian wasn't up against him because it would've made it like Sophie's choice for me who to cheer for.  He was dressed as Beetlejuice & on the right side of the couch was the top half of a woman & on the left side just the bottom half.  Ya'll-it was amazing.  The legs moved & he interacted with both halves.  I could NOT figure out how he did it.  (Later as we chatted w/ some of the staff they explained that it was a sleeper sofa they took the bed out of & the girls were stuffed in their respective sides.  But I still can't figure out where they hid the top half of that chick.  I looked behind the cushion & there was like no indication there was a person behind it.  Crazy - I tell ya...)

Brian's group (most creative) was up last.  Shauna & I were right up front & we screamed our heads off when they announced the T-rex... so did most the other people in the audience because he WON.  

 

 Lastly they did an overall winner.  They took the winner from each category & the audience decided the winner on that as well.  He was up against Beetlejuice (Sigh...I had a tough choice to make...) & the winner of the sexy category (which was a GUY dressed as a girl.  Hmph.)
Much to our excitement, Brian won the overall category too.  

 He worked really hard on this costume so it was awesome for him to be recognized for that.  He was super bummed he couldn't walk around Halloween night (Halloween is like Brian's thing...) so I'm glad he ended the night on a good note.  I'm also glad B-rad was able to help & support his buddy.  
(In the spirit of kinda full disclosure {even tho it's not my disclosure to give I'm doing it anyway} the winning costumes received a cash prize.  Brian was generous enough to give B-rad & I some of the cash he won for helping keep him from getting attacked by drunken strangers.  That was really nice of him & we appreciate it so much.... Which also makes the choice of not screaming for Beetlejuice less painful...) 
And if you're new here - all this Beetlejuice talk is called SARCASM.  I screamed my damn head off for Brian's T-rex ... 
I only screamed a little for Beetlejuice...

  The Courier Journal was there & they posted a video on their website.  Brian's costume made the video as did some of the other slutty costumes.  Check it out if you have a couple of minutes...

http://www.courier-journal.com/videos/news/local/2014/11/01/18318623/