Boo at the Zoo Spooky Saturday

Ten years, off and on, and it grows bigger every year. We arrived at the Zoo to find that the lot was full on our preferred side, but luckily I spied a line of cars leaving and patiently waited for them to re-open the lot. Just in time! We pulled into the 8th spot right by the walkway. Lucky us. And, because my mother-in-law got us a Zoo Friends membership for Christmas, parking in the lot was free!!!! (A $10 value - but there is always free parking in the park - it just depends on how far you want to walk).

Last year we missed Boo at the Zoo because Jack was too small, the weather was off, a multitude of reasons.

This year, we decided at the last minute to go. Around 9 this morning, the sun was out, the weather was mild, and it was PACKED because of it. The event is free, so you can imagine how many children are there - some without costumes, but most of them were dressed for the party. As we walked into the zoo from the Living World we were directed to our right. The line wound around (for those who live here, past the Children's Zoo, past the Insectarium, and all the way back by the Elephant Walk displays!). It was the longest line I have ever seen. However, it moved consistently and went quickly. Everyone was in good spirits, the sun was shining, we were all comfortable, and Daddy got some pretzels to pass the time.

Once we reached the hub of our "path" we realized why - it was the Target sponsored display. They were about to close - it was an hour and fifteen minutes from the car to the Target candy. Craziness. Because they were closing, the candy handlers were insanely generous - Piper walked up and one girl had two hands around this enormous ball of candies - and she dropped it all into Piper's bag! We turned the corner where two radio stations were and one insisted on taking a picture of the girls (maybe it will be on their website!). They all gave out goodies, we found Build A Bear Workshop (who is a local mom-owned company and really great to the community) - they had cute puffy sticker sheets and packs of, what else, Teddy Grahams! So cute. A hospital was giving out bags of pretzels, which we appreciated, and then we turned the corner and saw THE LINE. The event was divided up into several lines all with spooky or seasonally-appropriate names. Apparently, what we had just been through was one sponsored by four companies. The big line was sponsored by something like 9. There were people, five and size across, for as far as the eye could see. Because Target had been so generous (about to close up the hand-outs at noon, as scheduled) we were nearly full anyway, so we headed back out.

We got back into town in time for our downtown Trick-or-Treating here and drove by to see what was up. There were businesses sitting outside with bowls of candy, so we went and said hello for a bit. (We had decided a while ago that we'd skip it if they had to go IN to businesses - kids + little boutiques + costumes = no, thanks). The local precinct had officers at all the walkways helping the families across and we had a chance to chat with a few other families. It was a nice afternoon, and we're finally back home enjoying the quiet and resting our feet. What a day!

Without further ado...