It’s Halloween Weekend at least, and I decided to kick things off by rubbing elbows with another presidential candidate in Council Bluffs, this time the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. All the usual gang was there, including Tom Becka and that one guy pretending to be Secret Service, (don’t let the earpiece fool you — it’s just for decoration). The event was held at the tiny Glory Days Bar & Grill, likely to make the crowd of 100 or so people seem much larger than if they held it at the mid-america center.

Of course, that also meant the restaurant was at capacity before I even arrived, but those of us milling around outside did get the chance to grab the Governor for a picture or two as he made his way inside. I even managed to squeeze inside for a few pictures in-between reporters after a few of them left during the Q&A. I was honestly impressed with the governor handling tough questions from the crowd on topics such as the Fort Lee lane closure scandal and a lawsuit on EPA emissions. Maybe some of these Iowans should be moderating the debates instead of the clowns from NBC.

I was also hoping to have a pizza lunch with Marco Rubio (along with Vivian and my mom), but the Senator from Florida cancelled the event to actually vote on something in Washington instead. Maybe next time.

That evening, Vivian and I dropped by the Eagle’s Lodge for their annual Halloween dance. We helped with decorations before things got started and then spent the evening dancing with our usual cluster of Lindy Hopping friends. There was live music from a band called Three Day Weekend (mostly too-fast Jazz that left my feet aching), and we got Takashi to lead in another round of Thriller as well, which was terrific.

There was also a Jack and Jill dance competition (which involved holding pumpkins for some reason) as well as the costume contest. Winners included Dan Wondra as Groucho Marx, The Greatest American Hero (who looked a bit like Harpo standing next to Dan), and Lacey as Madame Blueberry.

And then there was actually Halloween Night. It’s such a neat experience to participate in this event through the eyes of our kids. Hannah painted a pumpkin for our front porch, and then we took her and Aaron out for an evening of taking candy from strangers (and Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. Hannah went as Anna from Frozen, and Aaron toddled along as Pooh, insisting on carrying two buckets with him as they got filled up with fun-size Snickers and Kit Kats. Jack and Donna were nice enough to hold the fort back at our house until our kids were properly exhausted (and down from a sugar high) when we came home.

We finished off the weekend with a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon. Our friends the Rietjens have just one or two more weeks left in Nebraska, so we went to the Burger King on Cornhusker Road with them for a kind of Last Luncheon together. The kids got some quality time running through the Hamster Tubes in the play area as well as we ate burgers and fries. We’re definitely going to miss this whole family once they go.