It’s 5 pm on Halloween day. Is it too early to go trick-or-treating? I guess we should load my daughter up with veggies and fruits for dinner before she eats her entire bowl of chocolates later tonight!

To get you and your family in the mood for a fun trick-or-treating night, play this song by Justin Roberts. The song is called … yep, you guessed it … Trick or Treat!

Have fun tonight and have a happy and safe Halloween! Oh, check out some pumpkins that we carved last night on my Facebook page.

Trick or Treat SINGLE by JustinRoberts

Trick or treat!

Ah, Halloween weekend is finally here! Enjoy the last weekend of many Fall Festivals and the start of endless holiday sweets.

Do you prefer to stay close to home and go trick-or-treating with your kids in your neighborhood? Or do you take your kids somewhere else for trick-or-treating?

If you’re in the latter group, there’s always the mall, of course. It’s convenient, especially when the weather gets cold. If you don’t want to go to the mall, but you have no idea where else to go, check out these 6 fun trick-or-treating places this Halloween weekend in Washington, DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Read full article for trick-or-treating places in DC metro >>

Slides at Cox Farms Fall Festival, Centreville, Virginia

Our family is a big fan of Cox Farms Fall Festival in Centreville, Northern Virginia. We went at least twice or three times last year. This year, we decided to skip the weekend crowd and went during the week instead. It’s even more fun without all that crowd!

If you haven’t been to Cox Farms Fall Festival before, put it in your must-go list this Fall before the festival ends on November 7th. Check out some of the fun things that you and your kids can do there:

1. Slides! Slides everywhere!
I meant to count the number of slides that they have at the farms, but of course I forgot to do that since I had to join in on the fun and got on the slides myself. There are probably at least 6 or 7 slides, including giant slides and smaller slides.

The biggest slide is the one with a dinosaur theme. It’s a steep hill to walk up to the top of that dinosaur slide, but it’s worth it. Without the crowd, we went up and down until our legs got tired. There are smaller slides for little kids, too. Watch out if you’re an adult and you try to go down the smaller slides, you may get stuck in the middle! If you have to pick two or three slides, go on the dinosaur slides, the volcano slides and the slides by the corn maze. For the dinosaur slides, plan to go up with your little kid so you can put her on your lap.

Read full article for more fun things to do at Cox Farms >>

Aayla Secura at Air and Scare at National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA

I have never seen so many little Jedi before! We stopped by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum earlier today for their Air and Scare event. My daughter dressed as Cinderella and I dressed as Snow White, but I think next year, we need to dress up as Star Wars characters to fit in the whole theme of the event. There were Stormtroopers and Jedi everywhere!

We got to the museum a little after the event started at 2 pm and I’m glad that we did. There was a line to get through the gate and another line to get in the museum. When we left around 4:15 pm, we saw the line of cars went all the way back to Route 28, at least a mile away from the ramp to the museum.

The museum was packed with families. There were plenty of photo ops with Star Wars characters as well as treat stations. Darth Vader was a big hit, of course. Many of the treat stations were demonstrations or interactive exhibits, not candies. But the treat stations with candies had the good treats with Twix, Snickers, M&Ms and other Mars candies.

Air and Scare at National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA

The flight simulators were free, too. There was a long line for both simulators, so we decided to skip it. There were other exhibits throughout the museum where you got to be a pilot and fly a plane.

This is a fun event for families, so try going next year if you missed it this year. It’s an almost free event (free admissions to the museum, but there is a $15 parking fee per car) and it’s different than other trick-or-treat events in the Washington, DC, metro area. You don’t have worry about the weather either, in case it gets bad; we were lucky today as it was sunny and mild earlier this afternoon. Just get there early before the line gets too long if you go next year and don’t forget to dress up!

Check out some more pictures on my Facebook page.

We’re taking it easy this Saturday morning since we’re still resting from last night’s Boo at the Zoo at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

Elephant at the National Zoo, Washington, DC

The zoo was packed with princesses, monsters and all kinds of movie characters you can imagine. We also scored tons of treats without having to trick anyone. The weather was great; it was cold, but we kept ourselves warm by walking around everywhere and checking out several indoor exhibits.

If you’re planning on going to the event tonight or tomorrow night, here are a few tips from our trip last night:

1. Get there somewhat early
We got to the zoo around 5:15 pm, which gave us enough time to find a parking spot at the zoo parking lot, but we had to wait in line until they let us in at 5:30 pm. So if you don’t want to wait in line too long, don’t get there too early. We entered through the parking lot entrance while our friend took the metro and got in the front entrance. For some reason, he got in about 10 minutes earlier than us.

So many skeletons at Boo at the Zoo!

2. Eat dinner beforehand
Only the zoo’s main restaurant was open and it’s located all the way down the hill. We didn’t find it (we probably took a few wrong turns), so we ended up snacking on chocolates, candies, ice cream, chips, snack bars, juice and apples from the treat stations. We certainly didn’t win parents-of-the-year award last night for that!

There are restaurants in Cleveland Park, which are about 0.5 miles away from the zoo. It’s hard to find parking by the restaurants (you’ll most likely have to park on the street then walk to the restaurant anyway), so see if you can park at the zoo and then walk to the restaurant. I’m not sure how early they’ll let you park at the zoo, but you can drive by the zoo and ask one of the parking attendants. Bring a stroller for your little kids if you plan to walk from the restaurant to the zoo. Between the cold weather and the hike, it’s much faster if you put them in their stroller and walk.

3. Dress warm
Our daughter was in a Cinderella costume, but we made her put her long sleeve shirt, leggings and coat to make sure she stayed warm. It did get chilly last night, but it helped that we walked a lot and we checked out some of the indoor exhibits.

4. Leave your trick-or-treat bag at home
You’ll get an orange bag when you enter the zoo, so instead of bringing your own bag, leave it at home and pick one up at the zoo. You are technically not supposed to bring your own bag anyway.

Trick or treat station at Boo at the Zoo at National Zoo in Washington, DC

5. Keep a close eye on your kid
Yes, this is common sense, but it’s even harder to keep an eye on your kid when it’s crowded and dark! Plus, your kid will want to check out the various exhibits and treat stations. Stop by the FedEx trick-or-treat station to pick up a glow-in-the dark bracelets.

6. Expect to see more treats than animals
Most of the big animals were inside already, so we didn’t see too many animals last night. We did see an elephant since we got there pretty early, but I’m not sure how long the elephant stayed out there. They also let a tiger out and eat some meat that’s inserted in a pumpkin, which was delightful for the kids to see as the tiger was playing around with the pumpkin to get the meat out. If you want to see more animals, go to the indoor exhibits, such as the reptile house and the small mammal house.

Sounds like fun? Definitely, our daughter and her friend had a blast! If you don’t have tickets yet, check on Ticketmaster’s website or call 202-397-7328 to see if they still have tickets available for Sunday (Saturday event is sold out).

All parking passes are sold out already, so if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, plan to take the metro. You can stop at the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan station or the Cleveland Park station. It’s an uphill walk from the Woodley Park Metro station, so it’s best to arrive at the Cleveland Park station.

Have fun tonight or tomorrow night! See more pictures on my Facebook page.