Oh the lights.........!

Just a quick update on this past weekend's happenings: The first few days of Christmas week are going to be "parents-are-on-vacation-and-Maddie-is-still-going-to-daycare-so-Mommy-
and-Daddy-can-have-a-little-time-to-themselves" week. The prelude to this much-anticipated week started off right with a burger dinner at Red Robin with Robin, Waylon and Noah Friday night. Both kids were sitting on booster seats and kept falling over to the side which was funny at first but quickly lost its luster after a few times. Combined with repeated dive expeditions under the table to rescue lost crayons it made for a somewhat, ummm, "active" dinner.

Saturday greeted us with some rain but we stuck to our plans to drive to Meadow in the afternoon to meet Stella Dot and her parents, Amy and Grant, for a good old-fashioned country dinner ...oh and see THE Christmas lights display. Unlike our lonely visit last year, the one and only "Meadow Restaurant" (yep, there's only one in that little hamlet) seemed to be quite popular with both locals and Christmas light-seekers alike resulting in an hour-long wait at 4:30 in the afternoon!!??? Nonetheless, the first glance of the dessert buffet quickly calmed down the female contingent of our little expedition while their male counterparts got equally excited about the fried meat offerings. The kids? Well, they were being good and eating their veggies -- followed by massive amounts of cake. Hey, why should they do without? Plus, Maddie kept sticking her fingers in every concoction we returned with: coconut cake, banana pudding, chocolate sheet cake. Oh yeah!

Mo' cake!

Discussing the merits of chocolate cream pie vs banana pudding.

It was pouring rain when we left with our bellies as full as jolly old Saint Nick's. But we pressed onward, waiting in a long line of light-seekers to view what we'd been promising the kids -- lights, lights and more lights. We managed to get our tickets fairly quickly and soon we all were on the choo-choo train and rumbling through the light displays. The girls had a great time and we all enjoyed ourselves. "There's an igloo with a duck...uh, no it's a penguin!" "Look girls, it's a racing car. There's a reindeer, and another."

Waiting for the Choo-choo train

Ooooohh the lights!

Mo' lights!

Lights can be tiresome!

We waved "bye-bye" to the choo-choo and headed to the general store for ice-cold sodas (that's pop to some of you) and some bulk candy. A fun-filled Christmas trip to be sure. Amy and Grant vow they'll be back to Meadow Restaurant with family in tow. We're still dreaming about the banana pudding and layer cake.

On Sunday, mommy was trying to teach Maddie how to catch grapes with her mouth. It almost worked. Check out the grape flying in front of the fridge!

I'm gonna get you!

Almost gotcha!