Starring Miriam as Elmo!

This past Saturday, we went to "zoo boo" at our local zoo.  It was a day where kids dress up in their costumes, walk around and take pictures in front of different murals, and can kind of trick or treat at about 8 places.  When we first got there it wasn't very crowded (we went as soon as it opened), but once we got through the main gates there were a couple of different booths with people giving things away.  Miriam's costume was a hit with kids and adults alike - everywhere we walked, we kept hearing "look, Elmo!".  I think the attention was a bit much for her in the beginning, as she was very shy and clinging to our legs, wanting to be held.  But she got used to it by the end of the zoo, and would even wave at people who said "hi" or mentioned her costume.  We probably heard about 60 Elmo comments during our time there.  We did our normal route at the zoo and Miriam was excited to show off her costume to the animals.  Whenever she showed off her costume, she stuck her stomach forward towards the animals and said "Look, I'm Elmo!"  It was pretty adorable.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Miriam as Elmo.  I'm sure we'll have more after she goes trick or treating next week.  We are hoping the local fire station (Miriam's favorite place ever!) does trick or treating, and we are going to a local business area that does a lot of trick or treating as well.  I'm sure she'll have fun. :)

Pumpkin patch!

We did our annual pumpkin patch visit yesterday afternoon, and we all had a lot of fun!  We realized that Friday afternoon is a perfect time to go - it wasn't crowded at all yesterday, and the weather happened to be beautiful - a clear, crisp, sunny fall day.  The place we go is fairly small, so we ended up spending a bit less than an hour there.  We took (lots of) pictures, ran through the corn stalks, and picked out family pumpkins.  We even got a small pumpkin for Skittle!  Miri is at such a fun age - she was running around the pumpkins, jumping through the corn stalks, laughing and running in circles, riding in the wheelbarrow and just generally having a great time.  We are planning on carving the pumpkins we bought sometime this weekend.  After we visited the pumpkin patch, we drove to an authentic German restaurant that Mario hadn't tried yet.  We had jager schnitzel, potato pancakes with applesauce, spatzle (german noodles), sausages and Mario even had an imported German beer.  It was the best meal I've had in a while, and I know Mario enjoyed his beer and sausages.  

Here are some (a lot) of pictures from the pumpkin patch, and one from the German restaurant.  It is always so hard to pick and choose!