Halloween is so close!

This weekend was a lot of our Pre Halloween outings. A couple of weeks ago, we went out to Grants Farm to partake in their spooky festivities (that night we also found out the Cardinals were going to the world series!) and our family enjoyed the haunted tram ride, magic show and just wondering around the Grants farm grounds.

But of course, closer to the end of the night is started to pour, and a few days later we all ended up with a cold. Our son got the worst of it though he had a fever in the higher 100's. Between taking care of myself, my sick child and my poor husband, I somehow managed to finish our costumes that week.  But we're all still pretty congested at the point.

At any rate, on Friday we went to Boo at the Zoo, it ended up being WAY colder than it was in previous years and but as always, worth it. They have so much set up to see and do! We walked around for at least an hour and a half just enjoying all of the decorations they set up and looking at other peoples costumes. Ducia automatically made friends with two other little ones that were also dressed up as dinosaurs.

showing off his spider, he never knows what to do with closeups.

Lets not lose our heads.

The zoo was dressed up in spooky areas, starting with the straw maze that was new this year. It was pretty small, but considering who the maze was set up for - it was perfect. Ducia lead us into dead ends twice, and kept trying to point people in the right direction when he saw them going the wrong way. They also had a crafts area, which this year was set up inside where kids got to make spiders. Although I think our favorite areas were the "Venus Fly Trap Forest," which scared Ducia a bit when a "swamp monster" crept out of the grass but he quickly recovered and wanted to go again, and the "Haunted Hollow with Creepy caverns and spooky swamp" which was basically the same thing - but with more spiders. All in all it was pretty fun even though by the end of the night we were all frozen. 

The next day, Jose and I had to go to the Central West End which holds a Halloween celebration every year. This year was a lot better (and the Cards won!) it was much warmer and many people recognized who I was (although I did get at least one person who thought I was Elvira and one who had never even seen Who framed Roger Rabbit). I was a bit frustrated with my wig because we had been to two Halloween stores and still unable to find a wig that looked more like Jessica Rabbits hair. So we settled for one that was red and long, at that point I was kind of over it. We also had to get me some gloves (and hubby too) and some red shoes (which I am now in love with). Hubby was pretty easy to shop for - except apparently rabbit ears are more of a "girl accessory" and so we were unable to find any that weren't "sexy bunny ears." I mean, come on. Really? There is NO regular rabbit ears? Why must everything be sexy?! Anyway, CWE was pretty awesome this year and there were a ton of costumes that were just excellent. I think my most memorable moment was watching a girl who was decked out in Belles yellow dress and just gorgeous, pull out a cigarette and start smoking.  There was also a couple who were fully decked out in 18th century garb and they were just brilliant. It was probably my favorite costumes by far. They probably cost and arm and a leg too. 

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way

Male Harley Quinn is out to destroy my dear husband.

 We ended up taking a lot of pictures with people, and being asked quite a few times to pose with people as well. By the time we got home around 1, I was ready to just crawl into bed and fall into a dead sleep. 

Then Sunday, my husband had to finish painting my moms living room (he is basically her go to guy for remodeling her house, he did her kitchen during the summer) while my mom and I went out to take Ducia out to Ghouls in the Garden which was a sold out event at our local Botanical Gardens. 

Trick or treat

My mom always says it reminds her of communist Russia, because pretty much all you do most of the time you're there is stand in line and wait to receive their treats. We got there at 2:30 and were pretty much done by 4:30, and a majority of that time was spent standing. Although we did get to go to the Children's Garden as well, and got to read and do puzzles. This is our second year going, and hopefully we'll be able to go again next year. I love how they set up the garden for this event and the fact that they don't hand out just candy, some of it is popcorn, home made cookies, they even have gluten free snacks they pass out and a "watering station" where you can enjoy a concoction. When we got home, I was put in charge of carving my mom a pumpkin. I always know Halloween is just around the corner when I have to carve her a pumpkin. I have yet to carve mine! 

By the time I finished it was really dark so you can't really see it. But I had to glue all of these spiders onto the pumpkin and that seriously felt like it took forever. I eventually switched to fast drying superglue, which I was hoping to avoid because I hate how it feels on my hands. But my mom seemed to like it, I'm opting for a simpler look this year. Less face like and a bit more decorative. I haven't even ventured into our basement to get our big blow up Frankensteins monster thing.  Or any of the decorations I usually hang up. 

And yesterday, my family decided to go to six flags, which was surprisingly closed for the season. I could have sworn that they are usually doing fright fest until at least Halloween, but it seems like they since this year Halloween is on a Thursday - they just closed up shop. It was kind of disappointing (lets not even mention the fact that I bought a "fun pass" and only went ONCE). So we ended up going to to Creepy World, this is the second house this month we've been to (the first one we went to is the darkness)  and can I just say, I am way too timid to be rude to people or really be "scared." The thing I hate most about Haunted houses is the loud noises and people constantly yelling at you, its not frighting, its startling and a tad bit annoying. Creepy World is like 7+ haunted houses in one location and you go through all of them. I usually go in front because, as I said, I don't really "do" scared. Sisters in law were having a jolly time, and clutching to hubby the whole way. Followed by this guy we know, who was scared out of his mind. Its always mind boggling when guys are more scared than the girls. :) For 5$ extra you get to do Zombie hayride paint ball (which I didn't know it was going to be paintball, and I didn't really want to do it) 

Photo bombing is becoming a trend. (Benji, Fani, Jose & Dulce)

Its really uncomfortable to wear those goggles on top of glasses, so I wasn't able to see anything, topped with getting paint splattered on my favorite sweater - it just wasn't my cup of tea. The guy who photo bombed the picture was part of a group who's "one of those guys" that go to haunted houses and mess with the people there. Entertaining to watch, to be honest. But probably pretty annoying to the workers. The rest of the house was okay, although, like I said, I'm too timid to be rude, so when the workers start talking to me, I oblige in awkward small talk. I will say that that my least favorite part was the fun house of terror, because this very push clown was really aggressive and like shoved me out of the way in one part. One of the nicer people of the night was a guy dressed up as a joker carrying a huge ax and that was trying to taunt me ("I'm going to get you!") he also had a tiny light up ax which I told him was the cutest thing I'd seen, and he told me that he'd use it to chop me up. It was a laughable moment. 

And here we are closer to Halloween now than when we started. Its suppose to rain all the rest of the week, so I'm not sure where we stand on trick or treating, but hopefully the forecast changes between now and then. Ducia has been watching a lot of Nightmare Before Christmas and has become obsessed with the song "This is Halloween," he keeps running about the house just singing it, always followed by "whats this?" Its adorable. 

I also repainted our entry room and am in the process of painting our living room. I'll post about both when I'm done. And now I'm off to prepare myself for a spooky Halloween, by watching horror movies galore.