Halloween Weekend

Third times a charm... After trying to go to ZooBoo on two other weekends, we finally made it this weekend! This whole zoo trip began with a conversation with Ruby on the way to preschool about a month ago. We were discussing monkeys: What letter does monkey start with? What sound does a monkey make? All of the sudden, Ruby says, "Mama, monkeys are for pretend, right?" Uh-oh, time to go see some monkeys!

Eli and Ruby both loved the dolphin show and sitting in the "splash zone". After the show (and meeting up with Daddy), we went on a search for the monkeys. And guess what? NO monkeys! Their habitat is being remodeled so they are on loan to another zoo! Fortunately, we were later able to pass off baboons as monkeys. On top of the regular animal stuff, the zoo had special activities going on for "Zoo Boo".

We couldn't leave the zoo without seeing Mommy's favorite animal-- the elephants!

Just as we were about to leave, a very nice man offered to take a photo of our entire family

Saturday afternoon we went to Kids Commons, our local children's museum, for a free day. Of course the first thing Eli and Ruby wanted to see was the giant toliet!

Kids Commons even has a great little area where David could get out of the front carrier and play. His favorite part was looking at himself in the mirror. Although, who can blame him, he is getting SO cute!

What really amazed me, though, was how much Eli wanted to play with Legos while we were there. You'd think he'd get enough of those at home! As we were leaving we passed by this beautiful graffiti. I've been wanting to take the kids' photos in front of it for quite some time. I am loving this photo of Eli.

On Saturday evening we went "trick or treating" at Grammie and Grandddaddy's.

On Sunday we carved pumpkins (finally). I loved how Eli drew out his plan on a piece of paper before exicuting it on his pumpkin. He is more and more like his dad every day (and I mean that in a good way!).

After dinner it was time for trick or treating with CandyLand, a monkey, and Iron Man. I had to laugh when one of the neighbors asked me if I made Ruby's costume (I can not even sew on a button well). Ruby really had the hang of this trick or treating thing this year. My favorite part was that as they were leaving each house she would hug her big brother and say, "I love you Eli". Of course, he hated it!

Between the cool breeze and the movement of the stroller, our little monkey quickly went to sleep.

When we made it back to our house, the first thing Ruby did was to line all of her candy up in a straight line and start counting it. Sometimes it's difficult to see your own OCD traits in your children!

After trick or treating in our neighborhood, we went to see Great Grandma Alice. I attempted to get a close up of all three kiddos at her apartment, but, as you can see, David did NOT wake up from his power nap very well!

We made it back home for the night about 8:00. We were greeted home by these carob spider web cupcakes that I had made earlier in the day-- yum!

Halloween is always a fun time with kids, but I also love Halloween for another reason... Jason and I had our first date on Halloween 17 years ago (doesn't that just make me sound old!). He proposed to me on Halloween 13 years ago. Wow!