Wildlights 2011

Here comes the Polar Express!

Things have been a little bit up in the air this year because Darren had sinus surgery a week and a half before Christmas. That coupled with my own on-going illness and our usual busy schedule (and a very rainy winter) left a lot of our Christmas traditions in question. Still, I tried my best to keep up with everything and that included our annual trip to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo.

LOVE this photo!

After piano practice last Wednesday I took the kids up to the zoo, leaving Darren at home to continue his rest and recuperation. There was a break in the day's rain and fairly mild temperatures, so it looked to be a nice evening. We started off with a ride on the zoo's 'polar express.' Degen was excited to ride the train, as always! We had a lot of fun seeing the Christmas lights among the habitats of the moose and reindeer. Afterward we walked through the zoo watching the lights brighten as day turned to night.

It was nice to watch the polar bears playing!

Wanting to keep our visit simple, my goal was to ride the train, eat dinner, ride the carousel and see Santa. Train: check, Dinner : check and on to the carousel! The carousel did seem a little more magical in the dark with all the twinkling lights outside the windows. The kids were first in line for our ride and their anticipation grew watching the horses go round and round. They were all smiles when they found their horses (which were not near each other) and had a great ride!

One of my favorite photos!

After our carousel ride we were off to see Santa Claus. Right when we got to the zoo we saw him heading to his building and he gave us a big smile and wave! Later that evening, when we got to the building, I was dismayed that there was a fairly long line. I was getting very tired and sore and I knew that the kids were about ready to head home. I got them both cookies from Mrs. Claus to eat while we waited. However, after a few more minutes in line they announced that Santa was going to take a 15 minute break. Well, we talked about it for a minute and we decided that we would just head home and skip Santa this year. I was disappointed, but fatigue and illness displaced the disappointment pretty quickly. Degen fell asleep in the car on the way home and was out for the night, so he was pretty pleased with our decision, too.

So though we were missing Darren and I was not feeling as good as I would have liked, we did have a good time and I was glad that we were able to make it to this year's Wildlights- keeping the tradition going! I really enjoyed watching the kids get excited about the lights, especially Kyrie. And I am thankful for kids who didn't get too disappointed when things didn't turn out exactly as planned, too. I have high hopes for a healthy Wildlights 2012!

Mrs. Claus helping Kyrie with her cookie.