Trick or Treat

London does Halloween just fine. The streets of St. John's Wood were teeming with families tonight: kids dressed in all sorts of costumes, moms keeping tracking of the kids, and dads alternating between checking Blackberries (come on, we left work at 4:30pm to be there) and wondering how in the hell people can afford these houses.

Wearing the same costumes from the birthday party (previous post), our kids raked in the loot. Both boys were true to form. After a while, Ben decided that he had gotten enough candy and quietly rode on the back of the stroller. Zack could only have been happier if we gave him a small shovel to scoop up even more candy at each house. His bag was about 2 pounds heavier than Ben's, though I'm helping (sic) to even things out. My only gripe is toward the person who I'm assuming is the local dentist who decided to give out 2-foot long Pixie Stix (or I believe they were called Rainbow Dust). I know all this candy the same thing in the end, but it still feels gratuitous to hand out large tubes of colored sugar.

SJW feels more and more like a community to us. We were out tonight with some other families and then ran into a number of others we knew, including a couple (with their three kids) with whom Tracy and I are going out tomorrow night in South Kensington for what it is supposedly London's best Spanish tapas. (Hell, if I had to endure rubber chicken in Barcelona, I may as well try to true up here.) Post-kindergarten, most of the kids in the neighborhood go the American School of London (ASL), which is about a 10-15 minute walk from our home and exactly the area we were walking around tonight. We were told that they had a huge Halloween bash today and we think that many of the scores of kids out tonight are students there. ASL is supposed to be a pretty amazing place in terms of facilities and curriculum. Ben is currently in the oldest grade that his school offers, so he's got to attend somewhere else next year. Our plan is to apply for both Ben and Zach to attend ASL starting next year. We want to keep the boys together - they won't say that they are best friends but do claim that they are "best brothers." That's cool, and I think they like knowing the other one is just down hall at school. These private school applications can be nail biters - more applicants than slots, essays and interviews, etc. Wish us luck.