Thursday, December 8, 2011

Holiday Hoopla

Downtown Cedar Falls has lots of Christmas activities going on that started with Santa's big arrival the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I knew that these events were always so crowded that I hesitated to take the kids by myself (since Mark was working) but at the very list minute we went - the boys in their jammies and all!  We did miss Santa's arrival which was a big bummer - but I knew we would and the boys had no idea as we showed up just before the fireworks were about to start.  They both were excited to be there to see all the lights and the people. Then the fireworks started and so did the big booms and they weren't sure what to think - we didn't get to fireworks this year for the 4th of July (I'm the mom that made her kids go to bed at normal time :) ), but we saw several light shows, including fireworks, at Disney World last February.  Levi put his hands over his little ears and was so concerned and Isaiah just watched in wonder.  After a huge boom from a fire ball or whatever they call those, we started back towards Santa's workshop because Levi was not happy.  It actually worked great because the boys got to go down the slide of the workshop over and over while all the other kids (except just a couple others playing) watched the fireworks.  We played around the workshop for a bit longer and then headed toward the car.  Of course Levi then got upset that the fireworks were over and he wanted them to start back up :) Silly boy.  

The following Thursday night we went back downtown for a horse drawn trolley ride.  They do these rides each Thursday in December and I knew that we'd better go to the first one as there is no way a newborn would be joining us on a freezing cold ride!  Apparently everyone else in town thought the first night would be the best choice too because the line was l.o.n.g.  We ended up waiting almost an hour in the freezing air for our turn - I kept asking the boys if they wanted to go, but they both wanted to wait!  Thankfully the people behind us in line were so nice and let us sneak inside the library to warm up a couple times while we waited.  Once it was finally our turn the boys were sooooooo excited and loved every minute of the ride.  It was such a fun holiday experience to be riding downtown in a lighted up trolley playing Christmas music while snuggled close with a blanket on our laps and candy canes.  It was definitely worth the long, cold wait!  As soon as we were done Levi wanted to get back in line to wait again (which I might have done but by the time we got done the ride times were about over) and he still mentions just about every day that we need to go back and do it again. :)  I have a feeling it's these little memories that will last a lifetime.

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