Happy Halloween!

I took Jack to school in his costume today, and I stuck around to get some pictures. I'm really glad I stayed because we got past the crying (like he always does when I drop him off), and I got to see him play with his friends and sit down for snack time. That also meant that I got a lot of cute pictures of him around his classroom.

Here he's saying ball as he throws it to me. (You can see the ball at the bottom of the picture.)

Since she's in elementary school, Mara doesn't get to wear a costume to school. She had her next-to-last swimming lesson tonight, so we didn't go around trick-or-treating like we usually do. Mara wasn't too heartbroken because she said she doesn't like going around the neighborhood (her feet get tired and some of the places scare her). Luckily, the police department was doing an alternative at the mall between our house and the rec center, so we decided to stop by there on the way home.

Trunk or Treat!

Tonight definitely made up for last night's disappointment. We went to our church for Trunk or Treating. My dad and Diane participated by decorating my dad's trunk and handing out candy.

Mara wore her Ranpuzel outfit (from the movie Tangled), and Jack was an Oklahoma State Cowboy football player. I even went dressed as an OSU fan, and we got lots of comments about the Cowboys. Lani was a pop princess, Lori was Red Riding Hood, and Mikey was a phantom of some sort. :)

Mara even got to see some of her friends from her old daycare.

After hitting all of the cars, the kids played around our spot until the end of the event.

We took this opportunity to take some more group pictures.

We definitely preferred this to going around the neighborhood. Mara really liked it too. Things aren't as scary since it's still light out when we start. We're already talking about what we'll do for Trunk or Treating next year, like giving away tattoos and stickers in addition to candy. John and I even talked about setting up two combined spots.

Halloween at the Zoo: Dallas Zoo

We got back from Kansas City very early this morning, and hit the ground running with a very busy weekend. Today alone, Mara had skate school, a birthday party, and then a trip to the Dallas Zoo.

Even though we had to leave early, I took Mara to her friend Taylor's party at a local park.

We were supposed to meet up with our Girl Scout troop for Halloween Nights at the Dallas Zoo tonight, but only the troop leader showed up too. We still had a fun time, though, but it wasn't like what I expected. We didn't get to see nearly as many animals as I thought we would, and all of the treat stations just gave out candy. Since we had to pay a premium admission, I thought Mara and Jack would at least get neat things, such as zoo animal trading cards or at least something zoo related. Based on those disappointments, I don't think we'll be attending this event again. We might try Fort Worth Zoo's Boo at the Zoo next year. Maybe it is better.

Mara and Jack both touched an alligator.

And we got to see a baby rhino.

Posing with the penguins from the new Happy Feet Two movie coming out soon.