Zoo Lights

Last night we got all bundled up and headed over to Zoo Lights. We got there around 7pm and the parking lot was already full (bad sign!). So we ended up parking at Phoenix Municipal Stadium (I think) where they had about 5 shuttle buses taking people back and forth. It was actually better than parking at the zoo, we basically had door to door service! And despite the throngs of people at the zoo, we were able to work our way through the lights at a good pace and didn't lose one boy in the process!

The sad part of this Zoo Lights trip was that Jengo the giraffe did not say hi to the boys by name. Every year we go it seems that they have a different method for getting the kids names and saying hello to them. Last year, the guy doing Jengo stood behind a fence and the parents went back there and gave him names. This year he was behind the same fence, but he was blocked off. So, Parker was very let down and moped the whole rest of the trip. Aaron and I both decided that we will be sending some suggestions to the Phoenix Zoo!

As we left the zoo, I had to stop and take one more picture of my boys. Inevitably, when I mention the word 'picture' or 'camera', at least two of the boys (Dallin and McKay) will also want to take a picture. I gave in to Dallin and he took off his gloves so he could take a really great picture of nothing. (Thank goodness for digital cameras!) Later, as we were getting ready to load ourselves onto the shuttle, we realized that one of Dallin's gloves was missing. Luckily, we had stopped outside the gates and Aaron was able to find it pretty quickly! (The gloves were only two weeks old!)

We're looking forward to going back next year. Hopefully, Jengo will be waiting for us!

Construction Time

Last night we decorated our family gingerbread house. Unfortunately, we didn't pull the instructions out of the box we had bought until we were ready to start. The icing was supposed to set for an hour before putting the roof on and two hours more before decorating. What? We knew the kids would not sit around waiting for the icing to dry and we definitely were not going to stay up until ten o'clock to make a gingerbread house. So, we started anyway, letting the icing dry about 15 minutes in between, instead of the hours that the instructions said. Happily, the house is still standing! The boys had a great time putting candy on the house (and in their mouths). Aaron used his construction skills to make doors, windows, snow on the roof, and even icicles. And since there was icing left over when the candy was gone, he decided to decorate the kids too!

Christmas Countdown

Making a Christmas countdown chain is another one of our family traditions. Aaron is great at getting the paper ready and helping the boys put their links together. We usually make one long chain at the beginning of December and have to attach it somewhere up high. But, we were running a little behind this year and so our chains were pretty short. The boys each made their own and we hung them on the refrigerator. I think it's going to work out pretty well, no fighting over who gets to take off the link each day! (We'll do almost anything to avoid a fight!)

Fun up north

The last few years our family has headed up to Sedona to see the Fantasy of Lights show at the Los Abrigados Resort in Sedona. Lots of different groups compete for the best light displays and the people that view the show vote on their favorite. We got a room at our timeshare for last Friday night and drove up. It was raining quite a bit as we were driving, but stopped when we got into Sedona. So, we headed on over to catch the trolley to the light show. As soon as we pulled in, we learned that it had been cancelled! So much for the light show this year! We continued on to our timeshare and made dinner, gave the kids a bubble bath in the huge whirlpool tub (which scared Dallin because it was so loud!), and had hot chocolate. Saturday we decided to trek up the switchbacks into Flagstaff and see if there was any snow the kids could play in. We stopped at an interesting little mini mart and took advantage of their free sledding maps. They directed us to the Crowley Recreational Area where the kids had fun sledding (on a borrowed sled, we didn't have one with us), until Dallin fell and got hurt. That kind of ended the sledding. We quickly made a few snow angels, had a snowball fight, took a family picture, and headed toward home. It was a fun trip even though it didn't go quite as we had planned!