Wild Lights 2011

For the past several winters we have made visiting the Wild Lights at The Living Desert (zoo and botanical gardens) a yearly tradition. To see the grounds, including its G scale model train all lit up with thousands of strands of lights can put just about anyone in the Christmas spirit. Throw in the opportunity to roast marshmallows, sip hot cocoa, visit Santa and listen to carolers and it adds up to a perfect evening of holiday fun.

Except this year, I realized on our drive down, I forgot the camera. To me, this was almost pure devastation. But I took a deep breath, shook it off and resolved not to let it ruin our fun. In fact, I decided it might be a good idea to take the night off and not be trying to capture every moment with the perfect picture.

We met our good friends Cruz and Tara for dinner at Outback before heading over and thankfully, they had their camera and well my phone DOES have a camera too. So all was not lost and you know what? I had the most fun I can remember from recent visits. I was relaxed and just taking it all in, reveling in the kids boundless energy and frequent giggling. It was a night that truly lived up to my expectations. And I can't ask for anything more.

Family in the tunnel of lights:



The kids in the tunnel:



A view of the lights along the walkway:



Example of one of the displays:



Jake riding the carosuel:



Jadyn on the carousel:



Playing on the hay castle/maze (Joe said he should have just bought a bunch of hay bales instead of a play structure for the yard):





Big smiles and rosy cheeks:



Riding the trackless train: