Halloween was a lot of fun this year, even though we won’t go trick-or-treating tonight. Instead Avery and Mommaw Clark are going to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters.

As you can see, Avery dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, complete with Toto! After Mommaw Clark bought the ruby slippers this summer, Grandma Hromada made the Dorothy dress.

To be sure Avery understood her character, Aunt Karen introduced Avery to The Wizard of Oz movie last weekend. Karen fast forwarded through some of the spooky parts, but Avery really liked the movie. In fact, Karen taught Avery to say Dorothy’s signature phrase (with her eyes closed):

Mommaw Clark tried getting her to click her shoes together, but she can’t do that very well. Last night the grandparents and Aunt Karen came over for food, fun and games. That was a fun way to spend the evening!

On Friday night, we went to ZooBoo. The zoo is opened later than usual, and the kids can trick-or-treat at certain spots throughout the zoo.

Avery had a list of animals she wanted to see: tigers, elephants, giraffe and penguins. Despite the large crowd, we saw all of the animals Avery requested. We think it was close to dinner time because a lot of the animals were pacing and waiting for their meals! First we stopped at the relatively new tiger exhibit.

There are several large windows where you can view the tigers. See how close this tiger got to us!

Just as we stepped away from the window, another family with a 1-year-old boy in a wagon walked up to the window. Suddenly we heard a bloodcurdling scream from the boy. As we turned around, we saw the tiger standing right up against the window, breathing on the glass and staring at the boy. The boy’s mom said the tiger charged at the boy through the glass. The parents weren’t concerned and were laughing at the boy’s reaction. But that poor boy will be traumatized for life and never will go see the tigers at the zoo again!

Avery got some yummy candy as she trick-or-treated at the zoo. In fact, I caught her sneaking some of this candy on Saturday. When I returned from Bible study early Saturday morning, the house was still dark. But I found Avery sitting on the couch with her candy loot on her lap. She was eating some Sweet Tarts while Daddy was still sleeping in bed! Luckily I stopped her before she ate too much candy!

The cheetah exhibit has glass windows similar to the tiger exhibit. Here is one cheetah pacing on the tree branches, looking for dinner.

One of the activities at the zoo was an obstacle course. Avery didn’t hesitate to get in line and try it out.

That sweet little blond girl didn’t even try to race Avery through the course. She wanted to be right beside her the whole way!

We hope you have a spooky Halloween filled with your favorite candy!

Happy Halloween!