Lights of Christmas

For Anna's birthday this year she decided she wanted to go to Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach.  Unfortunately we weren't able to go on her birthday.  It was too rainy, muddy and cold. 

But spur of the moment one evening between Christmas and New Years Eve, we decided to make it up to her and go for a couple hours.  Turned out to be our best visit ever.  The night was cold and dry.  There were no crowds or lines.  We all had a great time!

Anna got her very own bag of kettle corn for her "birthday".

Elayna surprised all of us and let the snowman give her a very short hug.  Too fast for the camera though.

 

 

I loved this vine of grapes made out of lights.

 

Looks like a gambling table.  But it is actually a tops game.  Everyone releases giant tops onto the table at the same time.  The last one still spinning wins.

We had intended on staying just a couple hours but we ended up arriving a little after they opened and leaving when they closed.  These are very tired little girls, a couple hours past their bedtime.

Goodbye until next year Lights of Christmas!

Christmas

A few memories to share from Christmas.

All the kids with Grandma.

Although the Children know that gifts come from mom and dad and are provided only through the grace of God.  (Not Santa)  They still enjoy receiving stockings with small gifts in them.  A few of them have said that this is their favorite gift.  Sadly, I don't know what happened to the picture of Stephanie with her stocking.

Daddy found this great little house for the kids to put together and color.  It was part of our New Years Eve celebration.

Anna's 7th Birthday

Anna wanted to decorate her own cake this year.

First daddy drew a line picture for her to copy.

Then she traced it out on the cake in the frosting.

Then she added the colors over the tracing.

Jacob helping with the frosting bags.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Elk County Visitor Center

This is the last page about the vacation.  It is out of order because these pictures got lost.  When I was originally blogging about the vacation as we were traveling I was uploading from my camera each evening.  On the day that our van broke down the camera also got lost (seriously, you have no idea how many things went wrong on this trip).  The Camera was eventually found but the the pictures that were taken that evening were forgotten in a cell phone.  The missing piece here is that before we rented the van we tried a suburban, the hotel drove Craig to pick it up and then he picked us up at the hotel and we went to this Elk Country Visitor Center.  It was free and one of the most educational places we visited on the vacation.  But we only had the cell phone with us so my apologies for the poor quality pictures.  Oh by the way, 1 car seat, 8 people and their luggage do not fit in a 2012 suburban.  Just so you know.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation educates people on the importance of conserving Elk and their habitat for future generations including hunters.  We learned so much about Elk habitats, hunting practices and the history of hunting these animals.  (don't worry, nothing gory ahead)

 

There were learning tables and hands on activities for all ages.

 

 

 

 

 

We found where we live.

"Mommy is this where our friends moved?"

  "Yep!!  Pretty Close Elayna!"

 

 

 

 Love this display showing the types of tools Native Americans made from elk bones and antlers.

Thanks for following along while we traveled! 

We are sorry we didn't keep up with the blog better in 2012. 

 We have plans to update much more often in 2013.

Happy New Year!!