Rob and I are lucky to work for an organization that is so, SO great
about providing opportunities for people to celebrate the holidays with their
family. One such event is called "Wildlights family night". My parents
have come to this event since I began working at the Zoo (11 years ago today!).
This particular day, it rained (that warm annoying drizzle type rain) all day
and so it scared most people away...but not us!
A couple of years ago the Zoo had to cut down all the
beautiful Ash trees that surrounded the lake. This made it
obviously, quite a bit more difficult to decorate, but our grounds
crew built all these huge trees with lights to replace them -
and it's STUNNING. They even built rafts with the trees on
top of them to float out into the lake.
Every half hour there is a lights show - where
all of the lights blink on and off to holiday music.
This year was the best year yet!
The only way I could convince Max to get remotely near
Santa was with the promise a carousel ride.
The picture we took with Santa isn't even worth
including in this post because he is basically hiding his head
in my shoulder. He only poked it out long enough to
tell Santa he wanted a "puzzle".
However, the carousel was met with much more
enthusiasm! We rode it twice!
It makes my heart happy to see that Peacock light every year!
It's my favorite :) Max loved the train light (which I think might be
new this year). I love looking for all the different lighted
animal silhouettes along the paths.
I have no idea what is happening in the above picture..
I think I said, "Max say cheese" and happened to snap
the picture at a weird moment? Either way - I assure
you, he was loving the "Polar Express" train ride
through North America!
Papa Rob had to go to the bathroom, and it was
at this moment that Max decided he would actually like
to participate in a picture. He's either all in on the
pictures or running away from the camera.
We made a pit stop in the Education building to grab
all my bags before heading out to the car. Max
decided to give the very fake penguins some love
and hugs. Kind of adorable.
On our way out we saw a giant inflatable Santa
that Max was more than willing to wave to.
(I have no idea why the real Santa is so terrifying
and yet all other Santa's - including 13 feet tall ones
filled with air are totally fine). We also saw
all these giant Christmas ornaments decked out in
their best Zoo patterns - and Max LOVED them.
He ran around to each one proclaiming "cheese!".
All in all - another successful Wildlights family night.
What a fun tradition!
xoxo
p.s. if you want to read past posts about Wildlights
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