Zoo Pumpkin Bash

Today we made our annual trip to the Woodland Park Zoo Pumpkin Bash. It has become a tradition of sorts to dress the kids up in adorable Halloween costumes & spend a few hours outdoors surrounded by nature & animals every October. We weren't brave enough to test the limits of 10-month-old Jacob, so he stayed at home with my Mom. Of course, we had to take a few rides on the 1918 historic wooden carousel with hand-carved horses & visit Gerritt's favorite meerkats. We all got quite a show from diving pinguins. We made a mistake of renting a single occupancy stroller so Gerritt & Sophia kept arguing whose turn it was to ride (the arguing got more intense & loud around the kids' nap time). It turned out to be one of those gorgeous sunny fall days. It began to rain only in late afternoon allowing us plenty of time to enjoy the festivities. The combination of light, beautiful natural surroundings & Halloween-inspired decorations make the Woodland Park Zoo one of my favorite places to photograph the kids in the fall. Even though she had the choice of wearing the monkey & bumble bee costumes, Sophia insisted on being the butterfly again, just like last year. Gerritt wore the dragon costume I bought almost 2 years ago & was saving while waiting for him to grow into it.

Another dragon!

Gerritt is ready for fun!

Sophia & Mommy riding the carousel

So happy!

Riding the monkey

Gerritt's favorite meerkats

Gerritt & gorilla

Sophia & lion

Pinguins!

Halloween magic

Beautiful fall day

My cute dragon

Surprise found in the woods

Trick or Treat?

This Halloween a friend of a friend invited us to her house for a Halloween-themed party. Everyone (kids & adults) were encouraged to wear costumes. Being 3 weeks away from delivery, all I could fit was an extra-large Halloween t-shirt I found in my Halloween storage box. Gerritt wore his bumblebee outfit while Sophia was a pink butterfly again (despite my strong encouragement for her to be Dorothy from the Wizzard of Oz).


At the craft table (Gerritt is making a necklace)

The evening was full of activities for the kids. They made bead necklaces, got prizes for their costumes & went trick-or-treating. It was Gerritt & Sophia's first time trick-or-treating & they absolutely loved it! By the end of the night, Gerritt was competing with his friend Anna to be the 1st one to ring the doorbells.


Sophia & a new turtle friend


Gerritt got a prize for the most "buzzy" costume :-)


Sophia got a prize for the most "bouncy" costume. Right at the beginning of the party she discovered a large leather couch & spent most of the evening climbing it & jumping on top of the soft pillows.




Getting ready to trick or treat


Heading out


Sophia admiring a pumpkin

Amazingly, Sophia kept up with the older kids (she was the 2nd youngest child in the group). I had to pick her up & run with her a few times not to be behind, but she insisted on doing most of the walking herself. I could hear her excited voice yelling, "Trick or treat!!!" and, of course, she was her usual polite self & said, "Thank you!" every time. People thought she was adorable & gave her lots of candy.




Trick or treat!

Thankfully, Sophia only liked to collect candy (like shiny interesting toys), but not to eat it. Gerritt was a complete opposite & a major sugar bug (one of my favorite names for him), so I had to set the rule of him eating only one piece of candy in the morning & one in the evening.


Sophia is last, but not the least (she got more candy than Gerritt because of her size & cuteness)



Gerritt - the first one at the door

Gerritt loved trick-or-treating so much, he requested to go again upon waking up the next morning. He was slightly disappointed when I told him he had to wait until next year's Halloween. I must admit, I enjoyed trick-or-treating a bit too much myself & would be more than happy to do it again next October. :-)

A Pregnant Pumpkin

Sophia kept saying, "Mommy pumpkin, Daddy pumpkin, baby pumpkin!!! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"


There are only 6 days left until Halloween. Gerritt & I went to Safeway today & picked out 3 gorgeous pumpkins. I originally thought of carving out a spooky witch, a gost or a scary monster, but then remembered this unique carved pumpkin photo by one of my favorite natural/home birth blogging Moms Rixa Freeze from Stand and Deliver. She really inspired me!


It took a lot of work, but the end result was worth it


A pumpkin in honor of my unborn son this Halloween

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! :-)