Boo At the Zoo

We did not go to Ky for Fall Break this year like we usually do, and when we're there, we always go to the zoo.  Last year, I was not looking forward to Halloween at all with Sage and diabetes.  Last year, I wasn't looking forward to much of anything.  While it is still a burden we bear daily, I dang sure don't let it stop us or her from doing anything she would do if she didn't have it.  It's just there.  That is all.  I don't want a damn license plate.  I don't want a support group.  I don't want to talk about it and think about it anymore than I already do.  Thankfully, we are surrounded by good people that get that anyways.  SO, since we were here this year, I wanted to try Boo at the Zoo in Birmingham.  I looked online and it looked pretty fun.  I knew the kids would love it.  Travis is working a lot during football season. He's pretty much gone every weekend.  But he was off this past Friday. Sadly, my father-in-law's dad passed away and we had his funeral that afternoon, but Travis said that he wanted to go to the zoo after that.  It didn't start until 5.  I was SO excited.  I was.  Me.  The kids were, too, but I was just excited to be...I don't know...normal.  I get a lot of anxiety lately about...everything really, and it was so nice to just have fun.  All of us.  Away from this town and the norm and facebook and my house that's just never quite together enough.  And we were off.  So I said no spoilers about costumes, but I guess I have to now...I was SO excited about the boys' costumes.  I have to give credit to my friend, Nichole, who suggested it.  Jaggar loves Monsters Inc, and he's always wearing his hat with Mike on it to school (need to take a pic of that), so it was a no brainer for her.

I present....Sully and Mike.  Are they not the CUTEST?  Now Jaggar had just tried this on for the first time here, so he was unsure.  He said Sully was too scary.  In reality, he just didn't know what he wanted to be, and I was not giving him the option.  Obviously, Bleu didn't care one bit.

 So, OFF we went to the zoo and what happened but Mista T forgot his sunglasses?  And it was that time of the day where the sun is blinding.  So I GLADLY offered him a pair of mine.

And he wore them.  Without shame.

 While I sat and took pictures of myself in the passenger seat and texted this to friends with a caption of something like, "What a pretty friend you have." or something like that.

 So as soon as we got there, we dressed our Monsters Inc friends.

 And they were adorable.  I just love this picture.  This is Costner's first Halloween, too, by the way.  But I stupidly didn't bring a bag for him and act like he was getting candy and then eat it myself.

 And little Miss here...I actually got her costume first.  Last year, she wanted to be a flapper so badly, but they had none in her size.  THIS year, I found the PERFECT set complete with all accessories, even fishnets, at TJ Maxx and snagged it at the beginning of October.  It was SO her.  Doesn't she look fantastic?  Secretly, if I dressed for Halloween, I'd totally be a flapper myself.

 I have to say that the Birmingham Boo at the Zoo blew Louisville's away.  It was SO great.  Photo opps at every corner.  I was SHOCKED at all of the decorations.  They had so many lights and props that I really wondered how many people it took to set them all up. 

 Mike taking it all in.

 I had a lady take our pic. That's actually the "great pumpkin" from Charlie Brown, which we've been watching regularly.  Jaggar even said on the way there that he hoped he got a rock. He did the same thing last year, and Travis actually snuck a rock in Jaggar's bag.  It THRILLED him.   If you haven't seen the Charlie Brown Halloween, then that won't make sense.

Jaggar's costume was THE HIT.  EVERYONE loved it.  It even has a tail, which I didn't get a pic of, but I will on Halloween.

 It was the perfect fall weather, and once the sun went down, it was COLD.

 They had cardboard cut outs for photos everywhere.  At the Louisville zoo, you basically go through the entire zoo in a line and get a piece of candy at each stall.  Nasty candy too.  Like a pixie stick.  They weren't playing around here.  Snickers.  Butterfingers.  Reeses.  Skittles.  And they didn't skimp. They had all kinds of games like a carnival that you could play over and over and over and get as much candy as you wanted.  Jaggar was in heaven.  They also had a "dance party" with a room with disco lights and music like "Ghostbusters" and "Thriller" blasting.  Jaggar danced his heart out with no reservations.  It was so great.

 They also had extra things that you could pay extra for like the Sasquatch safari where you searched for Big Foot.  We got armbands so that we could do it all, and this was the line for that.  That was really fun.  They took you on a hayride way out in the back of the zoo in the dark shining a flashlight. Then a guy dressed as a foot ran by.  It was really funny, and then the actual "big foot" went by.  IT was cool, and then the "foot" came up and gave everyone candy.  My kids loved it.  All along every back path were lit up pumpkins and decorations.  It was really amazing all of the effort that they put in it.

 Then Travis saw this.

 The eyes in that skull were spinning.  There was literally SO much to look at.  Jaggar, at times, would just walk off to the next thing and then freak because he was losing me.

 I wanted Travis to take this because of all of the LIGHTS!  Oh my goodness.  None of my pics did it justice.

 Precious boy waiting in line for one of the kids' favorites:  the backwards carousel.  Because it was Halloween, it's "haunted" and goes backwards covered in spiderwebs and black lights.  The Louisville zoo used to make theirs go backwards but stopped.  The Bham zoo even turned the lights completely out when the ride was going, and the kids just loved it.

 Sage being a ghost in the black light.

 Behind the carousel, there were more lights galore with an Alice in Wonderland theme, one of my absolute favorite movies.  And behind THAT was another paid deal to see "the fortune teller." We walked a very, very, almost creepy path to get to her, and then...it just didn't look like simple fun to me.  There's just some things I'm not even playing with.  Can't describe it exactly, but I didn't like how the scene felt.  I have enough doors in my life I want shut for me to throw anymore open.  Sage asked why we weren't doing it, and we just told her it was one of the things about Halloween that we don't like and we're not doing it. Besides, I already know how beautiful and amazing I am.  Done and done.

 We finally made it to the OTHER side of the zoo, and there was this light show!  Jaggar would have stayed here indefinitely dancing and watching.  This song here is his favorite on their Just Dance game for the wii.



Then we came upon Despicable Me!  They had a show, but we missed it.

 We were making our way to the train and to the actual "trick or treating."

 This was the trick or treating part.  It was like a maze with LOTS of candy, and they let you go through more than once!  Not that we'd know :)

 Sage's costume wasn't for warmth, so she had a sweater on, but when she caught a glimpse of the Nutcracker ballerinas up ahead, she quickly took her sweater off so they could see her costume.  I totally got it and asked if they'd let me take a pic.  Sage was thrilled and told me she was so glad I did that. :)

 Waiting in line for the train.  It was a little after 9. The kids were saying they didn't want to because of the line, but we were riding.

 Baby could not hold out anymore.  He was down for the count.

 I didn't take pics on the train, but it was so great.  SO many decorations in the back. The conductor of the train was "scary," and the kids loved it.  They had a strobe light in the tunnel.  They had a ghost light sequence that seemed to "chase" us.  Holding Jaggar in my lap and sitting by Sage listening to them and watching them, I just soaked it all in thinking, "THIS is a moment.  This is a perfect moment I will hold forever.  Babies.  Appreciating such a fun time.  Looking at so many pretty lights and just being grateful."  Because in that moment, we were okay.  Sounds funny, but if you knew the panics I've had, it would make more sense...but in that moment, life was perfect and I grabbed it and kept it.  I SAW IT.  It did not pass me by is what I'm saying, like so many moments can.

 On the way out, we were all tired.  And cold.  But we'd had a great time, and Sage was wanting to capture every photo opportunity that she could.

 And I indulged her. 

The Zoo

Since the Louisville Zoo made such a big impact on Jaggar last October, Mom tried to find a window of opportunity that the weather wouldn't be the temperature of hell.  There was one day that seemed to be better than the rest, but it was still so hot.  We got a late start, so we didn't catch more of the "coolness" that we'd have liked, but we still had fun.  It was tough on Little J, who got to ride in the sit n stand a lot on the last trip, since Costner had yet to make his debut.  Jaggar asked to sit in the shade a lot, but he still enjoyed it.  I didn't take as many pictures probably because I was trying to care for 3 kids and not have a heat stroke, but here's a few.

 Sage and her Target bin $1 special right here.  :)

 Outside of the tiger exhibit.  We actually came up on this right as they showed how they did some training with him.  It was pretty cool to see a 347 lb cat do tricks like a dog...a dog that could bite your arm off if he wanted to.  The trainers DEFINITELY weren't in the cage.  This was training like with a stick through the fence with a piece of meat offered as motivation.

 Costner's first zoo trip.

Last But Not Least

Unfortunately, time was closing in on us.  The zoo closed at 5, which I thought was lame and should have been 6.  But we still had a lot to do and not much time to do it in, but we managed.  Paisley REALLY wanted to ride a camel.  My kids did, too.  So we went for it.  The camel made two steps and Paisley was screaming to get off, which she did.  Jaggar LOVED it.  I wish I could have gotten pictures AND video to get his head bobbing away with the movement of the camel, but they took a measly one trip around the circle.  Again, lame, but they loved it.

 Look at Jaggar's face.

 One of my favorites.

 I remember riding a camel when I was little and an elephant.  Our zoo offered elephant rides until one trampled someone, so they put a stop to it.  All good things....

 On the way to the lion

 There he is looking ready to eat us.

 We wanted to end our day riding the carousel as many times as we could and doing the dino exhibit.  We had armbands for the kids, and then we got two adult armbands that we were able to pass off to each other so each one of us could participate.  Mom and Nichole took the kids to the dino exhibit first, so we waited outside of the carousel.  They finally came out laughing and screaming.  I had NO idea how cool that would be, but I did get to see right before we left.  Those things move and blink and roar.  I stupidly left my phone out when I went in, but the first time, Mom said she could see the last two dinos would spray the kids with water.  So they walked up and it opened its mouth and drenched them.  The girls were screaming, and Nichole was crying with laughter saying Jaggar held both his fists in the air and went, "YEEEEEAHHH!"  I can't not laugh thinking about it.  Such a great boy.

Costner and I waiting outside

 Mema and an unhappy Costner :)

 Leaving the zoo.  

We had such a wonderful time, and Jaggar, especially, loved celebrating his birthday at the zoo.  Although, he did ask where more presents and cake was.  That was to come.  :)