But the trip started off on Friday, with a trip to Bass Pro. Josh and I love to eat at Hemingways occasionally, because they have a really good buffet- with all you can eat crab legs! Grandma & Grandpa Looten, and Jess & Luke & Leila decided to join us, which just made it more fun! After dinner we took the girls down to look at the fish, turtles, and ducks inside Bass Pro. Laney LOVED them, like she loves all animals. I think she would have stood there forever if we'd let her!
Some of the fish were bigger than she was!
Leila & Laney looking at the ducks.
Couldn't resist taking a picture with the bear!
Another attraction of Bass Pro is the glass elevator... and she loved it, too!
On Saturday, Josh and I went to The Landing in Branson to start our shopping. It was actually a beautiful day, so we really enjoyed the outdoor mall. We actually didn't get a whole lot of shopping done there, but we got a few presents, and mostly just enjoyed spending time with each other. We walked around enjoying good lattes and just window shopping and looking through stores.
When we'd finished at The Landing, we headed to Silver Dollar City. If you've never been to SDC during their Christmas festival, I highly, HIGHLY recommend it! You won't find a place with such a clear message that we're celebrating Christmas (no "Happy Holidays" here!) and of what Christmas is really about. One of my favorite things (you'll see by the end, I have many, many favorite things) is the huge tree that you see as soon as you get through the gates and into the park. It's impressive even in the daytime:
A close up... the ornaments are huge, but look at all of the lights!
A self portrait, of course...
As impressive as the tree is during the day, that's nothing compared to it at night! At 5:30 they do a tree lighting ceremony, and it's a MUST. It's all choreographed and timed, and it's 2 or 3 songs, and just amazing! Pictures never do it justice, so this year I videoed it with my digital camera. The picture still isn't as bright as it is in real life, but it'll give you an idea...The whole rest of the park is covered in lights, too. One of my favorites is the "Rejoice" that is up over the lake, so you can see a cool reflection, too...
Not a great picture, but this is an overview of the whole park. You can kind of tell how many lights there really are.
Again with the "We are celebrating Christmas, and Christmas is celebrated because of Christ." theme... this is part of the train ride. During the year it's a comedy routine as the train gets "robbed." But, during Christmas, you stop in to see Grandpa, and he tells the true story of Christmas. Seriously, where else can you do that?!
Well, besides the city and the shopping, we hung out at Grandma & Grandpa Looten's house, and read LOTS of books. Several books managed to find themselves underneath couch cushions at various points during the weekend!!
This picture doesn't look very interesting, as it's not very focused and the balls kind of take over the picture... but I put it up here because Elena took that picture, all (well, mostly) by herself! :)
Thought this was such a cute picture of Josh & Elena on our way to church Sunday morning. The dress she is wearing is the dress Grandma Looten got her for this Christmas last December. Unfortunately, when I took it out of the closet, it became quite clear that it was barely going to fit her now, much less at Christmas time! So, it became her Thanksgiving dress!
After going to church with Grandma & Grandpa Looten, we met Great-Grandma & Grandpa D. for lunch, then spent the afternoon at their house. We sure had fun catching up with G'De & G'Don, and Laney LOVED the elephant piano!
Well, it's sad but true... on Monday night after we got back, Josh & I became "those people" and put up our Christmas tree. Yes, we put it up the Monday BEFORE Thanksgiving. But we were hanging out with Jess on Wednesday, and we wanted to take our pictures for our Christmas cards then, so we had to have the tree up. I know, I know, twist my arm... ;) No matter how many times we put it up, I still love how our tree looks...
And, apparently, so does Laney! :) Couldn't resist this shot, and there aren't even presents to dig in yet! But she loves the tree skirt with the bells, and (in this case) she was actually going after Truman, who spends a lot of his time hiding under the tree now. I think he feels like he's really in the jungle!
Anyway... I've got a backlog of several more posts, so check back often (if I ever get time to get them done!) This time of year I get so behind because there's something different every weekend!! But, next up, is Thanksgiving and hanging out with Mike & Jess... and you know if Jess was around there are lots of good pictures!! :)
And, apparently, so does Laney! :) Couldn't resist this shot, and there aren't even presents to dig in yet! But she loves the tree skirt with the bells, and (in this case) she was actually going after Truman, who spends a lot of his time hiding under the tree now. I think he feels like he's really in the jungle!
Anyway... I've got a backlog of several more posts, so check back often (if I ever get time to get them done!) This time of year I get so behind because there's something different every weekend!! But, next up, is Thanksgiving and hanging out with Mike & Jess... and you know if Jess was around there are lots of good pictures!! :)
2 comments:
I love Elena's jammies! Nothing cuter than footed pj's!
-Mom
Your striped turtleneck sweater in the SDC pics is really cute!!
Fun shots of the Lena and the Christmas tree, too.....love how she's crawling under there torturing the cat. Just wait til there's a bunch of presents to ooh and ahh over :)
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