Friday, December 23, 2016

12 Days Of Christmas - Day 3 - Zoolights!!

Day 3 of our 12 Days Of Christmas was a busy one! 

It started first thing in the morning and just kept on going. Ga-Ga & Pa had been up the day before to watch Zeke so I could volunteer at school and then they went to Jack's production. Then early the next morning they came back up so they could make it to Ella's Kindergarten Presentation that was at 8:45. 

Just like last year all the kindergartners lined up and sang Jingle Bells for the whole school. Ella wore the same Santa dress she wore last year. Ga-Ga had bought her new tights and new shoes to go with her dress. The difference from last year to this year is she really got into it. Last year she just stood there wide eyed shaking her jingle bells, but not singing. This year she sang and did the was so cute!  

We got the last set of 3 seats that were together in the front row so Zeke Man had to sit on someones lap. That someone was mostly Ga-Ga because she wasn't taking pictures. 

I love how I caught her in the middle of doing the motions. 

After the kindergartners sang the 1st graders played musical instruments while the music teacher read a book along to the was super cool! Then we all joined in and sang some carols together. To end the show he had the kindergartners stand up and sing again and we joined it. During that performance Ella saw Kendra and she pointed to her new shoes so Kendra could see them....she was so excited about them.  

Later in the afternoon I ended up coming back to school to help out in Ella's classroom. Ms. Davidson was having the kids make gingerbread houses and she needed some extra hands. 

I'm not sure if I've blogged about this or not, but we found out why Ella was getting headaches and puking so much....she's allergic to dyes! Since cutting out dyes from her diet she has done SO much better. We are still learning and I forget about it sometimes and she ends up eating something she shouldn't and then pays for it later, but her and I are both getting better at remembering. I did think ahead in regards to the candy on her gingerbread house and I brought chocolate candy and cereal for her to use on her house. I did give her the option of using the other more colorful candies on her house and then she just couldn't eat them, but she didn't want to. 

Later that night after dinner we bundled up...A LOT...and headed out to Zoolights! 

We have been having some pretty cold weather and I knew that we would have a bunch of complaining kids if we didn't layer on the clothes. We still had one complaining kid, but she complains about most clothes so it really wasn't a surprise. 

Here we go!!! 

Baby it's cold outside!!! 

I thought this cobra was pretty cool and that Owen would love it. I asked him what it was and he thought it was a heart. I guess it's up for interpretation! 

Daddy was awesome and bought us two soft pretzels. 

Zeke and Ella ended up not liking them so instead of splitting them 6 ways we only had to split them 4 ways. 

I loved this rainbow and was sure they would have a pot of gold at the end, but they didn't! 

The polar bears were probably my favorite light display! So pretty! 

Mount Rainier was also way cool! 

An old fashion selfie with a camera not a phone and I nailed it! 


Ga-Ga with her girl! 

Ella needed to be talked to quite a few times because of her negative attitude about her clothes, her boots and being tired. I know that she was really tired, but she also needed to choose to be happy and have a fun time! Thankfully she did cheer up a bit after this! 

Pile on Daddy! 

The boys had caught a glimpse of the walruses when we first came in, but the route we took ended up taking us all the way around them, but not to them. Once we had come back to the beginning we finally walked down to get a closer look. There were pretty amazing! 

This is what Owen had been waiting for! 

Michael's favorite display was this enormous octopus that was coming up over the roof of the aquarium. It was pretty freaky looking! 

The wolf howling at the moon and kids trying to give each other bunny ears! 

Behave for a moment so I can get your picture! 

After this we headed towards the front gate, but we didn't tell the kids we were going to do something special first. 

They were so excited to get to go on the carousal. Since we are members at the zoo the ride only costs $1 a kid. I couldn't believe it was that inexpensive! If I had known that I would have taken them all the other times we'd come to the zoo. This was so fun and special though. We don't normally do this stuff with the kids just because it's a waste of money and most places charge $5 per kid and that's just ridiculous! 

Jack was so happy to get the lion and he did a great lion face to go with it! 

Ella picked the pretty white horse right next to Jack. 

Zeke wanted the cheetah and he wanted Mommy to stand next to him. 

Zeke make your best cheetah face! 

He thought it was pretty funny that his cheetah had a monkey riding on his bum! 

Pretty girl! 

I wanted to get selfies with all my cute kiddos!

Usually I'm behind the camera so it's fun to actually document that I was there with them!

Daddy photobombed Jack and I! 

My sweet Owen! We were SO super proud of him. His tiger that he chose was actually one of the few animals that didn't go up and down! He was sad, but he didn't make a big fuss and he really did enjoy himself. 



During the ride Michael was going up and down with Jack and Ella. He said he was riding on an invisible horse! 

One last photo with his lion and it's time to go! 

On our way out we got some pictures with the Zoolights sign! 

These kids are SO strong! 


Such a fun, cold night making memories with our kids and it wasn't over yet....after we got home we made hot chocolate to warm up everyone from the inside. We were so exhausted after such a fun day!