In an effort to go "all out" for Christmas this year, we braved the freezing cold temperatures and crowds and met my sisters' family and my mom at Zoolights. We were pretty proud of ourselves for beating the system, however, and met at the zoo at 3:30, thus getting the cheaper price for the zoo, getting to see some of the animals in the daylight, and missing the crowds. We observed a polar bear cub playing, warmed up in the elephant exhibit, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back out when it was dark to see the lights. By the time we had toured all we wanted, the parking lot was packed and we were headed out! It was a delightful evening!
My three boys at the entrance to Zoolights
The crew in the elephant pavilion
I'm sure that the zoo staff was very thankful for all the hand prints that these put on the glass. We're blaming it on an earlier marshmallow that Joshy had eaten, but that kid was so energetic and crazy that night!
Partners in crime; we gave Edmund a lot of our duplicate twin clothes, so he and Josh have matching coats now...it's so cute!
Playing on the lion
The lions came out last minute and we were the only ones around. Ben talked about throwing a snowball at the lions and I told him that he better not!
I think the lioness heard us and was giving Ben the stink eye
It was so fun to have my mom there! She LOVED the lights and the time with her grandkids!
The lights were so amazing.
Alright, I confess: I was TOTALLY obsessed with the tunnel of lights. It was the coolest thing ever.
Perfect lighting to take pictures.
Gorgeous backdrop
I could have stayed there all night
And returned over and over again
The kids loved watching the lit-up train go by
The twins liked the snake; and Josh refused to look at the camera for a final picture. By the end we were frozen to the bone, but in awe of all the lights. What a fun night to spend with Grandma and cousins!
Christmas ships is an adventure that doesn't have many pictures, but I'm going to add it on to this post because it's a story worth remembering. Ben ended up going down to Mexico for five days in December to do a final hand-off for his new job. Determined to still do some fun Christmas outings with the kids, I asked a neighbor if we could join him on his boat to watch the Christmas boat parade in Scappoose. He informed me that he had sold his boat, but that he's a member at a yacht club and invited us join him at the pre-parade party and then to have a front row seat for the ships. Although I would normally always bow out of a social situations such as this, I went out of my comfort zone and said "yes." So the kids and I bundled up and followed our neighbor's car to the yacht club. As we arrived at the dike, the parking was pretty full, so people were parking on a gravel lot. It had been raining a lot and the ground was soaked and filled with puddles. I looked left and saw a lot of huge puddles. I looked right and saw grass. I was conscious of not wanting to get stuck. I went right and got stuck. Stuck in the muck (a quote from one of our favorite books). Stuck fast, with no husband in town. I should always go the opposite of my instincts in these situations. What a disaster. We pushed, we got help, we got pulled out. It was terribly embarrassing. We saw the ship parade. It was cold and rainy and okay. And now almost every day Josh says to me, "Remember when we got stuck in the muck?" Yes, son, yes I do. Thanks for reminding me. Again.
Seth is the only kid that I got a picture of
The whale was my favorite. Cool, but not, "I want to get stuck in the mud," cool.
Yep, those are the only pictures I have for Christmas ships. But, boy do we have a story.
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