All Aboard!

I'm not quite sure how we lucked out, but we managed to do our visit to Locomotive Park in the few days when we actually had snow. Which always makes it much more fun! We didn't even get a white Christmas this year, so this little bit of snow was wonderful. Locomotive Park has grown its lights display over the years, and this year was no exception. They added a bunch of LED lights this year. Other displays include the singing trees, the arched pathways (motion-sensitive lights change colors as you walk by under them), the fireplace, the train, and the dance-pad lights, which light up when you stand or jump on the corresponding section of mat. Each year our business is one of the Winter Spirit sponsors that helps pay the light bill.


Alyssa shows off up in the engine. I'm glad they leave it accessible to climb up there. Note the zebra patterned headband -- it's her latest craze.


We brought our niece/cousin with us, and she had a lot of fun there as well. Here she's ringing the bell on the train, which you can't see, but trust me, it's there!

Emma absolutely LOVES Christmas lights! A bonus for her is that she finally gained enough weight to graduate up to the toddler car seat, and now faces forward so she can see better in the car. Cameron is really great with her and often puts her up on his shoulders so she can see more (and it keeps her contained, as well!)

Cousins! Coming from Vegas, snow was an uncommon experience. But Grandma made sure she had a warm winter coat, plus snow pants -- a good idea when you're not acclimatized to the cold!!
Todd took Em over to the big outdoor gas fireplace to warm up a little. Instead of fake logs, it has a scene of houses and pine trees, laser cut from metal. Which is a little bizarre if you really take a look at it because it looks like a whole alpine village is on fire. She didn't have any mittens (yet - she got some for Christmas)... so she's wearing socks on her hands. I am nothing if not resourceful.
So one of the new displays was this set of lighted penguins, who danced in time with the music, "Linus and Lucy" (if you're blank, think of A Charlie Brown Christmas). We thought it would be cute to get a picture with each of us by one of the penguins. Which is all fine and dandy until you get some strange random child there,who has no parents anywhere near, and he won't move from his penguin. Yep, that's him in the red coat, front and center. No clue who he was or who he belonged to!!

We ended our trip with our now-traditional trip to McDonalds for eggnog milkshakes. YUM!!

Student of the Month

Having gotten behind on our blog posts, I'm here to make up for it now. At least the news is all less than a month old! Just before school let out for Christmas break, we found out that our Alys had made Student of the Month. This is something voted on by the teachers; criteria includes good grades, participation in extra-curricular activities (band, sports, etc.), positive attitude, leadership qualities, and so on.

I'm sure a sense of humor doesn't hurt, either! Congrats to Alyssa -- and we knew she had it in her all the time. Love you, Sys!!

(Alys is well-liked by her teachers, was up for student of the year last year, and has previously been nominated several times in the last 2 years for student of the month. She won in 7th grade as well.)