The fall fun continues...

I have to admit I've never been a big fall fan like most people. I don't like football, or fall clothes, cool weather or pumpkin flavors. I know everyone hates the summer heat but I love summer and swimming and vacations and I think the start of fall reminds me that winter is on it's way. It makes me a little sad. Oh my gosh I think I am realizing I am a fall scrooge.

Correction...I was a fall scrooge. Since having the girls I have loved fall and all the fun festivities it brings along! Pumpkin patches, Halloween parties, breezy walks, CANDY CORN...fun, fun, FUN!

We continued our fall festivities last night at the Zoo's Halloween Party. We dressed the girls up as animals for their first official Halloween party ;) Leighton was a zebra and Gracen was supposed to be a cheetah. Gracen wasn't a big fan of her cat ears, or her tail or vest. She was really just a cute little girl for most of the party :) Leighton, however, was a huge fan of dressing up!

We are zoo members so last night was free for us to attend, and since we are never ones to pass up something free we decided to go! Apparently a LOT of other zoo members had this idea! The member line was much longer than the general public line. But, it went really fast and waiting to get in let some anticipation build up for our little zoo animals :)

Gracen was so content and serious in her stroller. She had some milk, graham crackers and was just taking it all in :) I didn't dare take her out of the stroller for any of the photo ops. I was afraid once I got her out I wouldn't be able to get her back in. Just like you never wake a sleeping baby, you also never bother a behaving toddler! Look at little miss sweetness in her stroller (her cat ears were off in a matter of seconds so we opted for just a bow...). She was in a zone haha. Look at those eyes, could they BE any more blue ;) I love her.

Leighton was totally on board for all of the photo ops! First up, Elmo! Look at how she is holding his hand. She kept saying, "Look Sissy there is your Elmo!" Such a great big sis!

Most of the animals were already put up for the night since the large crowds can stress them out :( This made Leighton a little sad, she is our little animal lover. She's used to going to the zoo and seeing all of her favorite animals so it was a little hard for her to understand why the animals were not outside. She was extremely happy to be able to see the zebras as they were heading off to bed. She was frantically waving and telling them goodnight! She is so animated when she is excited about something!

More photo ops to be had! There were also characters; princesses, bears, pirates, Shrek, Wizard of Oz, etc. all over the park for pictures but Leighton wanted nothing to do with them. She did love waving at them and screaming, "Hi _______!" She was a big fan of the pirate! For pictures, we just stuck with the cut outs haha.

Willy Wonka land was a big hit with Leighton. When we walked away we turned around and found her facing the (empty) oompa cutout and dancing and singing to him, "Oompa, Loompa, doopity, dooooo." The child's love for Oompas still runs strong.

Once we were about halfway through the park I decided it was finally time to take out Gracen and try to get some pictures of her. She was very excited to get out of her stroller but not so much excited to put on her ears. Here is what I decided was a successful sister picture.

And, here are the other attempts at getting them to smile. Now do you see why the first one was considered a success?!!

We managed to get one shot of Gracen alone but just barely...she was in the middle of taking off her ears.

While I was trying to get a shot of Gracen, Leighton voluntarily climbed up on this haystack and said, "Hey Mama, take my picture!" Complete opposites those two ;)

Toby and I ended up carrying Gracen for the rest of the time. She was in a great mood but liked being out of her seat like a big girl. She walked some too but she is so busy it was hard to keep up with her and kinda nerve wracking considering all the people around! She was content being toted around!

On the way out we got them both a little fiber optic wand. We have started getting two of everything these days to prevent any fighting over toys. But, we are quickly learning they have to have the EXACT same toy or they each want what the other has. Leighton had a tiger and Gracen an elephant and sure enough they started shrieking over wanting the others. SIGH. Sister Drama. I am seriously buying two of EVERYTHING for Christmas. Before we left the girls had a wand fight in the back of the car with Daddy.

Our little wild women and their fall fun left Mama & Daddy exhausted :) It was totally worth it though, can't what for what's next on the fall fun agenda!