Festival of Lights

Last night we took a family trip to the zoo for the Festival of Lights.  Ordinarily, a light display is best enjoyed after dark.  However, when you have two little people aged 3 (for 10 more days!!) and 2, it is best to be home as near bedtime as possible.  Plus, I have been hearing some less than desirable stories about people sitting in lines of traffic waiting to get in, etc.  So, we got there before 4:00, walked right onto the train, saw a few of the animals that were out in the daylight and waited only a few minutes to see Santa.  And, the best part, we cut out at 7:00 when the thick of the crowd was rolling in, had dinner at home and two munchkins were in bed on time!

first ones in line for the train means caboose seats

next stop was to the Elf Post Office to write another letter to Santa 

(in case he didn't get our first one).

We were told that last night's letters were going to be delivered via Elf Mail,

guaranteed delivery to the North Pole by tomorrow night!

Sending their letters off

So, we did see Santa.  Both the kids, having talked for weeks about how they planned to visit with him and tell him all about their Christmas wish lists, were a little gun shy when they saw the big guy in person.  They did talk with him, at a safe distance, and got a candy cane (which they were REALLY excited about), and that was that.  No pictures with Santa when you can't both be in the same camera frame.

Santa's reindeer

look how pretty!

All in  all a successful end to our zoo year.  Looking forward to the start of Christmas celebrations this weekend, some holiday baking, a trip out of town, two birthdays, and another holiday movie or two in the next two weeks!  Who's tired?

Christmas crafts

A few weeks ago while we were out Christmas shopping, we picked up some crafting supplies, and have been trying to make time every few days to work on another project.  Today the kids picked out ornaments to paint.  It holds their attention for a surprisingly long time, but at least one of them still needs pretty close supervision with a paint brush (ahem, Ben.  Picture this: paint where he doesn't want it, so natural response is to launch a paint-filled brush across the room in a fit of rage.  Anger management, much?)

Holiday Trains

Yesterday afternoon we spent a few hours at the museum checking out the holiday trains exhibit.  The kids had a great time, but hunger and fatigue made for grouches by the time we spotted Santa.  So, it looks like another year where we admire him from afar.  We have been talking up seeing Santa at the zoo next week, so there remains an outside chance, I suppose.

Ben on the street car in the WWII exhibit

tokens for the train ride

and ice cream!

(my favorite part of the museum...Graeter's)

38 degrees?

Let's go to the park!

I can tell by how tired I am of being cooped up already that it is going to be a long winter.  Hoping for many more "just above freezing" park days in our future.