Archive for October 31st, 2009
We started out the day with a huge error in judgement. We went to Zoo Boo. On Halloween. Let’s just say it was not a good idea for one such as me who hates, loathes, and despises crowds.
We waited in line FOREVER just to get in. While we were waiting the lady in line behind me decided that she simply must talk to me the entire time – except it was mostly whines, complaints, and grouches about anything and everything. She was also the most ill-prepared mom that I’d ever seen. I ended up kleenex-ing, band aid-ing, and medicating her children while she was absolutely agog over the fact that I had all of that stuff in my purse despite the fact that (and I quote) “she’d been a mom for ages and I’d only been at it for a couple of years.”
Thankfully Ava was mostly okay with the wait.
Costume #4 of 4.
So, once the zoo people realized they had a near mob on their hands with the growing crowds, 80 degree weather, and only 4 ticket booths open, they opened up some cash only entrances. I totally walked out on her mid-conversation, left John and Ava standing, and ran(ish) to the front of the line. Since I never, ever run this should give you some idea of how desperate I was to get away from the incessant chatter.
We finally got in and Ava (really, J) wanted to ride the train right away. We forked over more dollars only to ride the cheesiest train ride, the ZooBoo ChooChoo, ever. Really it was. There were all sorts of bad decorations, Disney characters gone wrong, cowboy shootouts, and zombies dancing to Thriller (over and over and over again). It was really, really bad and I loved it. I can’t tell you the last time I laughed that hard.
There was also an Alice in Wonderland that I’m pretty sure was a guy, the ugliest Prince Charming I’ve ever seen, and the princess in the above picture was clearly past her prime by about 30 years.
After the train ride we got in some trick or treating. The zoo was very proud that the candy and treats they were distributing was 85% palm oil free and many were organic – which meant that they were pretty much crap unless you liked granola and suckers.
Except there was cheese. And there was a line…for cheese. I think this shows pretty clearly that the candy sucked.
I tried very hard to get a picture of her with the witch hat on but it was pretty much a no go. I bribed her with one of the million lollipops we had and got one shot of the hat. It was on backward, but whatever.
We closed the place down (okay, it closed at 3PM) and Ava power napped on the way home. Wish I could have. I think I needed it worse than she did. The day had taken a toll on me (I think it was the lady in line) and a migraine had kicked in full force by then so we cancelled our plans for more trick or treating with my best friend and my goddaughter. Thank goodness they were understanding about it – although I hated to do it since we don’t see them often enough as is.
Except Ava wasn’t having it. She could see the kids outside and she knew that someting was going on and she was missing it – so I uber-medicated and off we went to just a few of our neighbors’ houses.
Back to costume #2:
Remember – it was 80 degrees during the day so the butterfly costume (velour) was too hot while the witch costume (short sleeves) was too cold. The kitty cat costume was just right and she even consented to wear the ears – for a little while, anyway.
She got the hang of the trick-or-treating thing pretty quickly and my normally shy little girl disappeared when she realized there was good candy (like chocolate) involved. She even shouted (at the tip-top of her lungs) at one guy who didn’t see her coming up the stairs and started to close the door. “Look at meeeeee. Trick or treeeeeet,” she screeched.
She got lots o’ loot.
And snuck in a few (hundred) bites while she thought we weren’t looking.
By the way, I think this is what a sugar high looks like.
She tired out after only a few houses and since Mama was not feeling well at all we headed home so Daddy and Ava could hand out candy for the rest of the night. Ava got so excited with all of the kids coming to the door that, oops, there was a teeny potty incident and she ended up back in costume #3 – the butterfly. Fortunately it had cooled down enough by then that she could wear it so she finished up the night showing her wings to everyone. Sam saw the writing on the wall and headed for his kennel – no more bee wear for him, thankyouverymuch.
After inspecting her booty and confiscating what J and I wanted…
we decided to let her eat all the candy her little heart desired that night. She was flummoxed. Had absolutely no idea where to begin so she unwrapped nearly everything and took one bite out of each which actually ended up being a pretty good method to get rid of most of the candy in one go.
Clearly we should have had a costume #5 and dressed her as a squirrel. Just look at how full those cheeks are.
