And then the Spooktacular invite came in the mail. From 6:30 to 9:00 every night for almost two weeks the zoo would be hosting some kind of Halloween thing. I'd never really heard of it. I hesitated to go because I'm not so great at putting myself in new situations...
...and then I took the plunge. Friday afternoon I loaded my boys up in the car and drove the 45 minutes to the zoo to find out what this Spooktacular thing was all about.
Turns out it's a big Trick-or-Treating party. Needless to say I caught hell from Logan for not having brought his costume. I was saved by the fact that his stocking cap looks like I shark head. I pulled it on his head and said, "There! You're in costume! You're a shark!" At five years old he didn't really buy it, but mentally must have decided to just go with it. Gavin, at two, didn't care. Honestly, he probably would have been ticked if I tried to put him in costume (he's Yoda this year, and it turns out he's not a fan of the costume at all. May be he's just not a fan of clothes in general right now and not anything personal against Yoda).
It just so happens despite the crowds (ICK!) and the dark (UGH!) and the trying to keep track of a five year old in the dark in the crowds (YIKES!), I managed to have a really good time - and so did my boys! Sure, it took awhile to convince Logan that no matter how hard he looked in the monkey cages they weren't there at the moment (smart monkeys went into their house for the cold night), but once we passed the first person handing out CANDY all thoughts of getting to see animals were abandoned. Ahhh...the power of sugar!
The zoo had some pretty amazing decorations. There were the traditional spiders and black cats, and there were lots and lots of carved pumpkins.
Turns out we still got to see some animals, too. The petting zoo was open for one.
Plus, the path led us through the giant turtle house!
And then there was the lion. Didn't seem like he cared much for all the people traipsing around at night because we could HEAR him before we could see him. I can honestly say that I would not want to be out in the middle of nowhere with an angry lion!
And, if Trick-or-Treating, cool decorations, and animals weren't enough, there were games! Games you could win prizes and treats from! My boys were partial to the "Pick the Duck and Win Stuff" game and the "Spin the Wheel and Win Stuff" game. They're a lot like me: why work hard for prizes when you can find the booths that basically hand them out for nothing?
Oh, and there was a bounce house, too. Logan wanted INSIDE where the action was at while Gavin was content to lay on the "step" outside.
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