I’ve received many questions about my profile picture on Facebook and figured it was about time I explained why the monkeys I make aren’t the only sock monkeys around.  It comes down to family fun.  Yes, we are that annoying family that coordinates our Halloween costumes.

One of the things I love about Omaha is that there are so many great things to do as a family.  This is especially true of the fall season.  One of the great events is the Halloween Spooktacular at Omaha Zoo.  It has become a family tradition.  We haven’t missed one, until this year, since we moved here 7 years ago.  At first we attended like any other resident, we dressed up our kids and stood back as they had fun trick or treating all over the zoo.  Then an amazing thing happened, my sister was stationed here 5 years ago!  The memories of how our parents made a big deal over Halloween spurred us to create new family traditions.

We have done Zombies and gone to the Zombie Walk.

We have done ‘The Wizard of Oz.”

We have done “Alice in Wonderland.”

We have done “Snow White.”

But I am most proud of the Sock Monkeys.  As my obsession over sock monkeys grew stronger the next logical step was to turn my whole family into sock monkeys.  🙂  It started with my husband’s costume, I wasn’t even sure I could make it work.  Then it grew to costumes for the whole family.

My husband was dressed as the traditional red heel sock monkey, while the rest of us were more like my monkeys, a little bit funky.  Everyone got to decide what kind of monkey we wanted to be.  For my daughter pink pokedots and a tutu.  My son liked the black and white stripes with a football on his chest.  My sister’s monkey was dressed as Wonder Woman.  And for me, what’s Halloween without a witch costume.  So my purple monkey wore a skirt and witch hat.

We had experienced great reactions with our previous costumes.  People stopping us to take pictures with us at both the Zoo and Vallas Pumpkin Patch.  They were nothing compared to the reaction we received from our monkey costumes.  Word to the wise… if you are dressed as a stuffed character children will bum rush hug you, adults will giggle when they see you, and every two steps someone will ask to take a picture with you.  It was slightly exhausting, but great.  It was also my first step into the world of creating my own sock monkeys.

If you have never done something this silly, I highly suggest it.  It will make you smile.

So now monkey heads live at the top of my bookcases waiting for the next opportunity to come down and make others smile.

I hope that answers your questions.  Have a monkey day.