Zoo Boo 2008!

We had so much fun at Zoo Boo this weekend! Zoo Boo is an annual Indianapolis Zoo event (That we'd never gone to before) where they have special Halloween events and kids come in costumes and trick or treat at the animal exhibits. My kids were especially excited to dress up! Morgan was a bride, Emma was Cinderella, and Carter was a rhino.

Here is my young bride with her bridesmaid, Cinderella.


This was taken immediately after getting out of the van when we first arrived and I was so excited to see them all in their costumes. Carter wasn't too fond of the rhino head hat to begin with and kept trying to pull it off, but after we got going and he got distracted, he was OK.


Here is my little rhino checking out the sea lions! He was obviously impressed!


Is this the beginning of a joke or what? "A bride, a rhino and Cinderella walk into the zoo...."

Emma getting some hard earned candy at the giraffe exhibit.

Carter eagerly anticipating the start of the dolphin show. (Just look at the utter glee on his face!) I couldn't stop taking pictures of him in this outfit, it was so stinkin' cute! Just look at that horn! HA

We went with our friends, the Arnetts, which brought with it a few more possible punch lines with the addition of a bat and Tinkerbell! I'm thinking something along the lines of "Holy Rhinocerous, Batman!" (Hayden's costume is so cool...his wings are a black umbrella!)

"Oh no! That rhino escaped from his cage! Good thing that man in the Colts shirt captured him!"
Long lost cousins!

In the underwater dolphin viewing zone (where some of our favorite cousins, The Macks, were engaged just a few short years ago......and who are now expecting their first baby in May! YAY!)
As part of Zoo Boo, there was a Party Pavilion complete with Hay Bale Maze, Bouncy House, pumpkin bowling, a DJ, and refreshments. So cute.

After we left the zoo, we headed to Greenfield to meet up with Chris' good friend Chad and his wife Sarah (and kids Zach and Anna) to eat at Cracker Barrell (yum!) and then went to see Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam's beautiful new home in Greenfield. We got home around 8:30 and put 3 very tired kids (and a couple of tired parents) to bed!

Smelly house and the zoo

I used to have these neighbors that had, like, a million animals in their house and their house smelled like animal urine all of the time. It was so bad that sometimes if they opened their windows and the wind was blowing in the right direction, I could smell it at my house! This morning, my house smelled that way! I don't think I've remembered to mention it on here yet, but my once incredibly low maintenance dog now has diabetes. He just turned 9 and he had started peeing in the house all of the time, so I took him to the vet because that was so unlike him. Turns out, he has diabetes and I have to give him insulin shots twice a day. And we had to start boarding him when we leave, no more having my mom just let him out a few times while we're gone since I highly doubt she wants to give him shots! Anyway, apparently while we were at the zoo yesterday (more on that in a minute) he had several accidents in the playroom. UGH. I'm having a party tonight and my house smells like Diabetic Dan the Dog. Lovely. So, the house is now all opened up and is already HOT in here. I will rent a carpet shampooer thing in a few hours and hopefully that will help. Otherwise, there will be LOTS of candles tonight! Here is a picture of my very cute and very HIGH MAINTENANCE dog, Bingo, playing with Morgan in less incontinent times.

On to happier things......the ZOO! Back in early June, we went to the zoo with our friends Clay and Carey Arnett (picture? ok! Here is us in Las Vegas!!)

Anyway, we had all gotten Zoo memberships while we were there because we did the math and realized it would pay for itself in 2 visits....so, Carey and I decided we'd take the kids yesterday by ourselves. It was fun and was HOT! The kids actually did really well. We all piled in our van (which was a little tight in the back for Hayden, Emma & Morgan) Here are 4 of the 5 kids (missing Carter) looking at the seals.....

and Carter was there too, but happily viewing from his deluxe viewing accommodations....

We had a fun time, saw the dolphin show (which Morgan & Emma LOVE and try to re-enact in their kiddie pool) had a few snacks and played in the splash park. We were all pretty tired when we got home, but everyone was really good!