Happy Halloween!

Some of the Halloween decorations at our house


Kids helping Daddy to carve the pumpkins

This Halloween, rather than going trick-or-treating & then fighting to pry candy out of our kids' hands, we've decided to take them to the Pumpkin Bash at the Woodland Park Zoo. The Zoo offered a special discount - 1 child in a Halloween costume could enter for free with a paying adult. Weather cooperated with us again as there was not a drop of rain all day & the sun was shining brightly. We arrived to the Zoo at around 11 am & stayed until 3 pm. Sophia slept in her stroller for at least 1.5 hours (she always sleeps longer outdoors) & Gerritt did not mind one bit delaying his afternoon nap by a couple of hours.


Gerritt & Sophia posing for photos


Happy girl Sophiichka (Софиичка) (the endearing version of Sophia in Russian - that's how I like to call her)


Gerritt & Daddy


Gerritt, Sophia & Mommy

It was our 5th trip to the Zoo this year, however, this outing was different. The Zoo was overflowing with parents & children all dressed up in various costumes. Gerritt was dressed as a monkey while Sophia wore a pink butterfly costume. Their costumes were made out of fleece & doubled greatly as outdoor clothes, keeping the kids warm. The Old Navy costumes usually run at $22.50 a piece, however, I bought both of Gerritt & Sophia's outfits for $5.47 (!) each a week after last year's Halloween.
We've attended multiple pumpkin "animal enrichment" activities to observe a repertoire of animal behavior as various zoo animals crunched, smashed or stomped on pumpkins. Gerritt announced that he wanted to see only cranes & pinguins since they were his favorite. I could not convince him to see any other animals without him crying even though we were almost inches away from an elephant. No amount of persuasion could get Gerritt out of his stroller so I had to suffice with admiring the elephant on my own & taking photos to share with Gerritt later, when he would be in a better mood.


We took a little detour on our way to visit Gerritt's favorite animals & happened to observe hippos & sun bears snacking on pumpkins as well as a variety of other animals out & about. When we finally reached the penguins they looked busy trying to pry little fish carefully inserted into the small holes in a pumpkin.


A hippo crunching a pumpkin


Gerritt's favorite - pinguins!


A bear enjoying a pumpkin as well - who knew?


Beautiful flamingos

The highlight of the day was watching a performance of high school kids wearing zombie costumes & dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Of course, Gerritt & I had to ride the Carousel again while Daddy watched sleeping Sophia & also stop by the balloon animal maker to buy Gerritt a yellow balloon giraffe.
Gerritt played the monkey role perfectly running & climbing all over the Zoo.


Our little monkey!


Sophia loved being chased by Gerritt, "Catch me...


... if you can!"

Upon returning home he took his biggest nap EVER - from 4 pm on Sunday to 8 am on Monday (16 hours straight)! Gerritt slept through all of the trick-or-treaters who visited our house later that night & even Spike's barking. He fell asleep while holding onto his balloon giraffe, & I could not help but smile when I carefully took the giraffe out of his hands when getting into bed later that night.
We might have outdone ourselves this year with the house Halloween decorations, pumpkin carving & the kids costumes. Prior to having kids our Halloween consisted of buying candy so we could give something to the dressed up trick-or-treaters stopping by. The outdoor lights were turned off as soon as the candy ran out. This year it's a different story... My perception of this holiday's importance has certainly changed since becoming a Mom & I have Gerritt & Sophia to thank! :-)