Wildlights 2012 (Columbus Zoo)

One of my favorite light pictures!

 

I love Wildlights at the zoo! I love that you get to wander the zoo in the dark, and it is completely transformed into something magical with all the lights everywhere. We all bundled up for the cold, and I packed some snacks and thermoses of hot drinks. We always try to get to the zoo a little early ahead of the crowds, and that mostly worked this year. It is hard not to take a lot of pictures because you want to try to capture the magic of it all. Not all the pictures turn out how you want, but a lot of them turn out even better.

 

We took a ride on the Polar Bear Express! Kyrie enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate, and we let the magic of the lights transform this little train ride into a trip to a winter wonderland.

 

Love this photo of the kids on the train!



The main light display! Beautiful!

 

We got "3D" glasses from our Santa visit at Easton mall that let you see Santa in all the lights. We brought them with us to the zoo, and it was amazing! I put the glasses over the camera lens, and if you look closely you can see some of the Santas, though the effect was not as clear with the camera.

Love this photo of the kids!

Zoo Santa

 

On Tuesday, we bundled up and headed to the zoo for Wildlights! Our first stop was to see Santa! I really like this Santa a lot. He is one of the really good ones! Kyrie got a letter from Santa this year and in the letter he told her that all his helpers carried his magic with them and you can find that magic in the twinkle in their eyes and the kindness in their voices. This Santa definitely has the twinkle and the kindness.  He spent a lot of time with the kids, especially Kyrie. Right before she left him, he gave her a great big hug that was the sweetest thing ever... and, of course, I missed getting the picture! This was a great start to our beautiful evening at Wildlights!

 

Santa Visit 2012

 

We made our annual visit to Easton to see Santa on Monday. The kids were all dressed up and had lots of smiles to share with the jolly man. The photo above is the professional pic and the photos below are some candid shots that I took.

 

Do-Re-Mi-Fa-La-La-La-La

 

Our last day of piano lessons for the year was a performance class. The performance started with four piano teachers playing on two pianos. They, of course, were awesome! Then Kyrie played "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and Degen played "Good King Wenceslas." They were both a little nervous, but I think they had fun and enjoyed the experience.

 

Zoo School (Dec 2012)

 

Zoo school is always a treat for the kids. Our December zoo school was a mystery game that Kyrie really enjoyed. She got nearly all of the answers correct and used the clues to figure out the mystery animal. We had two animal visitors: a shingleback skink and an armadillo.

 

Nutcrackers

 

We got a fantastic pre-Christmas box from NanaMAC this year! There was lots of fun stuff inside, including paint-your-own nutcrackers. The kids love craft projects, and they really enjoyed this one. I was really pleased with how well they turned out, too. The kids were proud of their creations, and I was happy to add them to our holiday decor!

 

Daisy Ornament

 

I saw the idea for a miniature, foam Daisy vest on Pinterest. It was labeled a Girl Scout swap, but I decided to make it into a Christmas ornament for Kyrie's Daisy Scout troop. I had lots of foam sheets on-hand, so I just had to go to work with the scissors & hole punch. Everything was so small, so Kyrie didn't help with a lot of the prep, but she did help me glue some of the larger pieces. I was very pleased with how they turned out, and I think the girls enjoyed them. 

Holi-dress Up!

 

Kyrie needs very little excuse to dress up. We attended Carols & Lessons at church a few weeks ago and she was probably the fanciest dressed person in attendance. She asked me to curl her hair, which turned out super-cute! She looked beautiful, and, of course, Degen looked handsome even though he was a lot more casual. These are the photos we took before we left. Kyrie had fun posing in front of the Christmas tree!