Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve my folks always throw a little holiday party after our church service.  This year was no exception.  Food, laughter and shenanigans always take part in the festivities! :-)

Me and my babe!

Dad getting his "fade on" lol

Easton was obsessed with Boppy's Christmas gift from us (given to him early, of course) - an iPad Arcade

Toebone and his Uncle Ken :-)

Shenanigans abound with a rousing game of "What?" We were obsessed.  Seriously, I don't think anyone had dry pants after this game we all laughed so hard!

Giving Damon hugs good-bye

Someone doesn't like a good time to end!

Hugs for Vicki!

Speaking of shenanigans....

Easton's BIG Surprise!!!!

Easton kept telling us that he dreams of riding on a REAL train.... This child eats, sleeps, BREATHES trains! And his favorite movie, favorite soundtrack is all The Polar Express. Obviously, he can't ride The Polar Express, but we were bound and determine to make his dream of riding a REAL train, come true!

That's when we found the Coopersville Marne Railway! They do a Christmas Train every year, so we bought up tickets and the day of the ride we kept telling Easton we had a HUGE surprise in store for him, but first we wanted to bring him by a train for him to see and hear it up close and then we would go to his BIG surprise! 

We waited on the platform for the train to arrive.  When it pulled up, we let Easton touch it, he heard it toot it's horn and then we told him it was time to go. He, of course, didn't want to.  So we asked if he wanted to ride it.  To which he exclaimed excitedly "YES!!!!" and that's when we SURPRISED him that his big surprise WAS getting to ride the train!

It was one of those moments that you never forget.  As a parent, making one of your child's dreams come true, it's a remarkable thing and we were so grateful to be able to provide this awesome experience for our little dude!!!!

Waiting for the train to arrive....

Easton's "genuine ticket to ride" (if you've seen the movie The Polar Express, you'll understand that line!)

Surveying the crowd....

With his boppy

A little Santa visit!

Mama and her boy <3

A family snap....

Can you tell someone's having a good time?

Hey! It's Santa again! (Easton even got a present, a toy car!)

This is the look of a dream coming true....

The conductor.  A very important man, you know.

"All Aboard!"

I know him! I know him! SANTA CLAUS!

After our dreadfully awful experience seeing Santa at Rivertown Mall last year (rude santa, rude "elves" and won't let you take your own pictures), we decided to go see Santa at Breton Village Mall. Oh man was that the best idea! Easton was absolutely enthralled with the train display first and foremost.  What a gorgeous, painstakingly detailed display.  We had such a blast watching all of the trains go around and around with Mimi and Boppy while waiting for Daddy to arrive.

Daddy finally arrived and Easton was still enchanted by the gorgeous train display.  As E was turning the corner watching a particular train, all of a sudden there was SANTA! Santa was watching the train display as well! When Easton saw Santa, he threw his hands in the air and shook with glee and exclaimed, "Santa! It's Santa!" He was absolutely thrilled to see the big man! Santa was then kind enough to spend a half hour walking around the display with Easton, talking about their favorite trains and exchanging light hearted banter. 

After looking at the trains, Santa asked Easton if he'd like to sit on his lap and tell him what he'd like for Christmas, to which Easton proclaimed, "Yes!" and did what we have now "dubbed", the "Santa Shuffle" while following Santa to his big, red, chair.  Santa even let Easton hold and ring the beautiful sleigh bells that he had with him. 

Santa was LOVELY, absolutely LOVELY. I don't think I have ever seen or met a lovelier Santa.  He looked so nice and he was so kind and talkative, just what you imagine Santa to truly be. It was such a magical moment for Easton.  They shared some jokes and talked about the North Pole.  Then Easton let Santa know that he wanted, "The Polar Express Train, a ringing bell (from Santa's sleigh) and moon sand."  Easton has actually been practicing his list of those exact three things since LONG before Halloween (I kid you not!).  He so desperately wanted the Polar Express Train and the bell from Santa's sleigh (and OF COURSE he got everything he asked for - and then some!)  But it was so sweet watching the exchange and Easton's eyes light up spending time with the big man.  It was such a fantastic Santa experience and one I am SO GLAD my dad caught all of video, we all were welling up with tears because the moment was so incredibly MAGICAL and enchanting for Easton.  One we hope he'll remember forever. 

(On a side note, Easton loved the trains so much, we went back the next week to see them again and we will be going to see them one more time before they are taken down on January 11 - that's how cool they are!)

Easton with his hero, the big man himself....Santa. <3  (And OF COURSE Ritzy had to see Santa too! He actually thoroughly enjoyed himself as well and was walking around on his hind legs to watch the train display with Easton!) <3

Telling Santa he's been a good boy :-)

Watching trains with Boppy! Easton was obsessed with the trains, we went back two more times to see them! What an amazing display!!!!

Best buds!

GREAT WOLF LODGE! 2011

Great Wolf Lodge 

(*Disclaimer:  I don't know why the videos look so crappy on here. They look fantastic on our computer, it must be because blogspot - our blog host - doesn't host videos well. Oh well, enjoy anyway!)

One of our new (and favorite!) holiday traditions is a weekend getaway to Great Wolf Lodge! My parents got us the trip for part of our Christmas last year and they asked if we'd like to make it a tradition and have them get it for us every year and we said, "YES!"  We have SO much fun!

We go with our friends Jeff and Kellye and their little boys, Carson and Dylan! We have an absolute blast and Christmas is the perfect time of year for the trip! The lobby is decked out in all its Christmasy glory, it is gorgeous! The clocktower animals sing Christmas songs and it even "snows" in the lobby! It's such a blast!

Easton ADORES the waterpark! He is a wild man and will do ANYTHING! He loves the water slides - the faster, the better! It was hilarious because he remembered it all from last  year and knew exactly where he wanted to go when we arrived this weekend!

We are creating so many wonderful memories as a family and with our friends and are so grateful for this time together!!!!

(Note, in a lot of the "Day 1" movies, notice that after every ride Easton says, "I want to do that again!")

DAY 1

First Water slide of the season!

 First swim in the GWL pool of the 2011 season!

Tom foolery with daddy!

Daddy eating Toe like a corn cob!

Waterslide time!

After our day in the water park, the boys got cleaned up and went to the arcade all together and then we all met up for dinner at the lodge's restaurant (my only complaint about the place is their food). After dinner we rushed to our rooms to change the boys into their Christmas pjs and went down to the lobby for story time and the clocktower show! Afterwards we all played in Jeff and Kellye's room before hunkering down for the night!

 Kellye and Dylan at Storytime

Easton and Dylan at Story Time

 Someone is very excited while waiting for it to "snow" in the lobby!!!!

Easton trying to "catch" the snow in the lobby!

And now....

DAY 2

 The Rennells had to run a few errands in the morning, so we did breakfast on our own in the lodge's restaurant (breakfast seems to be the only meal they can do decently. Like I said, we LOVE GWL, but they have to work on the food!). We had fun being silly in the restaurant.  

Lookin' at the menu

Easton loves ordering for himself....

Cheesy grins!

Silly faces.

 Daddy and E in our breakfast "tent"

Easton heading for the pool first thing!

Kellye and Dylan in the hot tub

Jeff and Carson after their water slide ride!

Easton trying to blast daddy with the water sprayers!

If you couldn't tell, Easton knows his way around this place VERY WELL! :-)

The dude is swimmin'

Ryan sneaking up on the dude while swimmin'

Jeff and his boys

Easton being silly in the lazy river. He loved playing pirates in the lazy river.

Daddy was Captain Hook!

Easton and I going down the yellow slide!

Hanging out in the hot tub

A pretty picture of E floating in the hot tub

The family after our tube ride! We love the "yellow" slide the best!

The boys loved getting water dumped on them from the big bucket and then running into the hot tub afterward to warm up!

Family shot!

Easton practicing his swimming that he learned in his first round of swim lessons!

Me and E going down the blue slide!

Slam dunk (I actually made more dunks than he did. Ha!)

Easton actually had a slam dunk of his own!

Leaving the pool to get ready for dinner

After the water park we decided to head to Boone's Long Lake Inn, Jeff said it was amazing (as did my folks) and it was! We had the best dinner!!!!

A shot of our Toe before headin' to dinner

Ryan and Kellye at dinner.

 Me and my babe!

The Rennells (minus Carson) they left him in the car. JUST KIDDING! :-)

After dinner, the boys wanted to play in the arcade, we obliged!

Roller coaster!

The car game E and Carson LOVED!  Look at that pretty face!

Deep in thought.  He already takes his video games VERY seriously!

Easton and Jeff playing Fruit Ninja! (I ended up buying this game for my iPod Touch, I am so addicted!

Motorcycle with dad

Then after the arcade the boys changed into Christmas jammies again and we had some ice cream before heading up for story time and the clocktower show!

Checking Santa's book to see if he's on the "naughty" or "nice" list! :-) We already know he's on the nice list!

Enjoying the show

Our three babes

Look at Dylan's hands over his mouth, he was SO HAPPY to give "Rowdy" the reindeer a hug!

After story time and the clocktower show, we all went to our room because Ryan and I had ordered up something special for the kids, we had milk and cookies delivered to the room by one of Santa's elves! It was so sweet and they loved the surprise! I have it on video, but it is a lengthy video because I never stopped it afterwards, so I'll spare you, but it was absolutely PRECIOUS!

The next morning we met up for breakfast at the lodge's restaurant.  After that, we said "good bye" to our friends, the Rennells, they went to leave, but we decided to hit the waterpark for a few hours before check out.  We had such a great time! We love our time at Great Wolf Lodge and love this new family tradition!

Cheesy grins at breakfast

 A quick shot of the Christmasy lobby

E's snuck into Santa's chair for a quick photo op before saying "Good-bye!"

See you next year Great Wolf Lodge!!!! <3