Boo at the Zoo!

We're not big on Halloween in our house, or at least not the ghouls and goblins aspect. I don't, however, see any issue with letting my girl dress up in a tutu (or, at least, have an excuse to do so in public) and go meet Elmo. That's right, we met the big E today! Audrey was so excited.

We had quite a busy weekend. Friday evening the husband and I went to his firm's yearly party where I took their pictures and socialized with the big lawyers. Then we left early Saturday morning for the two hour drive across state for a wedding. Audrey stayed with her grannies and went to go visit her great-grandmother for a little bit while I worked.

I was on my feet in all my pregnant mama glory from 1-10 and drove back to my mothers' house. We spent the evening there while my husband slept like a rock and I didn't get a wink between Audrey talking in her sleep and Tony practicing his football kicks. But, regardless of our sleep levels, we got up before the crack of dawn to head home. We got home with just enough time to shower, change and pack up Audrey's costume and church clothes. And off to the zoo we went!

Audrey's peacock tutu outfit! Isn't she precious?

Thank God we bought our tickets in advance, because the event was sold out and it was PACKED! I felt so sorry for the kids and their mommies who tried to get in without tickets and were turned away. There were over 5,000 tickets sold for today alone! Once we got in, we took a couple of pictures went straight to see the giraffe - Audrey's new favorite animal. And then we went on a hunt.

My little girl looking so big looking for Elmo!

An Elmo hunt. We asked one of the booths where he was, and they said he was just walking around the zoo, so off we set. The local college out here has red as their color, so all the football fans were wearing red, especially dads, - this was a hinderance in our search for a big red creature. At last, we spotted him by the Old World monkeys! I whispered to my husband where he was so we could get over there fast, and then Audrey saw him.

A little tickle while searching never hurt anyone. See the people in red back there?

She called his name and was oh so excited to see him! She wasn't fond at all of waiting her turn to see Elmo, but didn't have a total meltdown either. She LOVED him. I had hoped for that, but feared that she would be petrified (I still run away from characters when at parks, but I suck it up for her). Our mission had been accomplished. We set out to get a picture with Elmo, and got it we did.

My little family with Elmo.

So, we set off on the next venture of our Boo experience and came across a local gymnastics school. Audrey immediately drug us over to see what they were doing and even jumped on the mats! The teacher helped her do a flip and she was nothing but smiles and giggles she was so happy. And once she was done, she bounced and jumped all over the mats. If she had it her way, we would have spent the rest of the day there bouncing and flipping. I think we'll enroll her once Tony is born.

Audrey post flip. Doesn't she look born for gymnastics?

Once we peeled her away from the mats, we headed out because we had to drive over an hour to a joint church service with another church. We ate on the road and made it just in time. The gentleman who sat next to me had way too much cologne on, so Audrey and I went to the nursery and played until service was over.

Now, I'm starting the evening's work of editing, editing, editing, organizing, correspondence, ordering and the other joys of owning a business.

Has anyone ever gone to a Boo at the Zoo at their local zoo? I highly recommend it. It's fabulous and so much fun for little explorers to get to dress up and parents not worry about anything scary!