Places to Go - Trick or Treating at the White House (Washington DC)

This year the White House offered the girls' school a limited quantity of free tickets for their Halloween celebration. So we entered the raffle and believe it or not, we WON!! (This is sort of a big deal as we never win anything, as in EVER). I, along with most other parents, was over the moon about the whole venture (THE WHITE HOUSE!!). The kids' showed a slightly more muted sense of excitement ("what if we don't get enough candy? are we going to miss out on trick or treating with our friends?"). I swear it's true that childhood is wasted on children. Why couldn't we all just dance around the house celebrating our good fortune? Luckily, F's best friend also won tickets, which raised the happiness level somewhat.

Of course we arrived half an hour early because who wants to be late for the White House? Which meant standing in line for half an hour with an artist, a firefighter, Hermione, and Psy (the Gangnam Style guy) fighting over my iphone. As soon as the clock hit 7 pm (our entry time) everything moved really fast. After going through security, we walked onto a huge back lawn full of people on stilts, a band in skeleton costumes, a fairy in a bubble, decorations everywhere, and seriously TONS of Halloween overload. It was amazing, even without the White House cache.

I tried to take pictures, but it was dark and there was so much to take in. Plus, they kept moving everyone along. Eventually, each child received a goodie bag with dried fruit (I'm guessing this was Michelle's idea), a cookie, and presidential M&Ms (seriously, how cool is that?). I was in dork heaven. But my kids lamented the lack of twix bars (what is wrong with them?). Apparently, had we received tickets for the 4 pm slot, we would have met the president himself, but by 7 pm Barrack had left the party (see how we're on a first name basis now that I've visited his home?). Regardless, it was still one of the coolest Halloweens ever.

After finally making our way home (thank god, for Uber, because cabs were non-existent), we still had time to trick or treat around the neighborhood. Thus assuring my kids reached their maximum level of exhaustion. Exhaustion coupled with gigantic pumpkins full of candy (which Coco proceeded to steal and eat). So goes another All Hallows' Eve.