Ghosts of Halloween Past

Although Halloween was quite some time ago, I thought it would be nice to talk about the weekend I had with my mom and my sister and of course, our awesome Halloween.

Over Halloween weekend, my mom and my sister came down to Columbia to visit. They arrived on Friday night and we had pizza and wings, a tradition for fall in the our family since my dad goes to my high school's football games every Friday. We sat and talked (shock I know) and watched wedding shows (another shock).

Saturday was filled with a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo. It is a must if you ever find yourself in Columbia. The zoo is on the smaller side, but it is kept up very well and is perfect for going to for the day. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and although it was a little chilly with the wind, with a windbreaker there was not a problem. It has been YEARS since I have been to this zoo so it was like seeing it for the first time again :)

Here are some of my favorite exhibits:

Grizzly Bear, he was HUGE

Running Kangaroo

Elephant :)

Baby Giraffe

Up close and personal 

Baby sister and I were given the opportunity to feed the giraffes (for a small fee of course) but it was so worth it to see her face. Priceless!

Flamingos....they smelled awful

These monkeys were so LOUD!

The most memorable moment of the day was however when we went to go to the garden part of Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. If you go, you will see that there is a sign that says "Riverbanks Botanical Gardens" and a bridge you need to cross in order to get to the gardens. No big deal right? So we walk across the bridge and found ourselves at the bottom of a HUGE hill. Looking at the map at the bottom of the hill, we realize we need to climb the hill to get to the gardens. It was a tough climb, steep and steady increase and no gardens to be found. When we finally made it to the top, we notice that there is a tram stop. That's right, we were suppose to ride a tram up to the top.....not walk.

So for future reference, there is a tram stop in the middle of the zoo that you can ride to take up to the gardens and back down which is what we did.

We had a GREAT day and ended it by making beef fajitas with chips and guacamole. Delish.

Note the festive chili pepper serving dishes!

 We spent the next day at Village of Sandhills and found some killer deals. I got 2 shirts, my mom got one, my sister got 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants for a grand total of $50, crazy right! Even better, I now have a $30 off coupon that I can use when I spend $60. Old Navy, you make it so hard not to shop at you. Although my mom and sister were suppose to spend the night, Rory's hair was getting to my mom and she was having to take her inhaler to much. We decided it would be best if she and my sister went home that night. Good thing they did, I was up until 1am finishing my homework, which would have been harder to do if they were here.

After class on Halloween, I drove up to Charlotte to spend Halloween with my sister. We went over to my Aunt's house to trick or treat which was awesome, they have a lot more kids in their neighborhood then we do.

This year I decided to be Flo from Progressive. I borrowed an apron and a Progressive bag from one of my mom's coworkers, used a button down of my dad's and just wore my khakis. It was an awesome costume if I do say so myself....what do you think?

Printed them off the website, 

Had to have the Flo hair bump!

 Along the way there were things that got us in the Halloween mood:

OMG Phineus and Ferb Pumpkins!

My Aunt's Halloween table

It was a wonderful weekend, and it put me in such a good mood after having several projects and tests in the weeks leading up to it. I cannot wait for more fun weekends with the family.

You're missing the whole point of Halloween. Free candy?