Boo at the Zoo and Halloween Too

We decided to really amp things up for Halloween this year. Last year, we skipped going out to trick or treat with Marielle. It was a bit cold last year and we didn't think that Marielle would know what was going on. This year, in addition to keeping our Boo at the Zoo and Bump & Grind (see the Pierz Family Blog) tradition alive, we took Marielle out for a round of candy-tax collection in my parents' neighborhood. All together the Halloween weekend has been a lot of fun. Boo at the Zoo was a lot of fun this weekend. It was definitely an improvement over last year even though the parking situation still sucked. It was better because Marielle and Alex really knew what was going on this year, and it was much warmer. They had a blast watching the animals. The elephants and bears were big hits. Marielle calls them "el-fants" and "bearies." In addition to checking out the animals, Marielle and Alex spent the day finding new places for sitting next to each other.


For Halloween proper, we headed up to my parents' neighborhood. Where our neighborhood is all but devoid of trick-or-treaters, my parents' neighborhood teems with them. Marielle really liked walking to the front doors of homes with all the other kids that were out. she'd stand there in her mouse costume with the ninja turtles, princesses, vampires, and soldiers and wait her turn for getting candy. Omi walked the block with us so that she could show off her grand daughter while Opa (in Where's Waldo garb) stayed back to hand out candy. By the end of the night, Marielle was definitely getting the hang of things. She yelled for one household to hurry up when they didn't answer the door right away and in another instance she tried to take candy from a bowl on her own. A little bit of trick to go with the treats I guess. She had a lot of fun.