Advent 2012

Today is the first day of our Advent activities! If you are interested in doing your own this year, you can go back and see how I made the calendar and get ideas from here. A couple of nights ago, I sat down with our calendar and a stack of post-its and planned our activities for this year. There are some really fun ones, and there are some that are slightly less exciting, like picking up cookies from our favorite bakery (they can't all be winners), and there are some that involve doing things for others.

So anyway, today's activity! We decided to do Zoo Lights with Jenna and her family and my parents. It was beautiful weather, so apparently everyone else thought it would be a good idea as well. It was pretty crowded, but the kids don't seem to care about that kind of thing, thank goodness! I decided next year we will wait until it's cold, and maybe throw in some sleet, and then we'll be the only ones there. Miserable, but the only ones. :)

When we arrived there were all kinds of characters and they were super friendly and spent a lot of time with the kids. The kids looooved them! Next we saw the lions. It was pretty spectacular. We got to see the male lion walk across the exhibit and lay down. Then he proceeded to let out several pretty magnificent roars. It was like nothing I had ever heard. We enjoyed the beautiful lights and the laser show. We even had great snacks. We all brought snacks for the kids but Ryan brought us smoked gouda cheese, crackers, and homemade peppermint mochas. We all decided Ryan is an indispensable part of the family.

Now I am going to subject you to pictures taken on my not so great in the dark point and shoot :)

Rudolph!

Juli was in the stroller

Frosty! We were photobombed by a small child in a pink coat. Apparently her mom didn't care that we were taking a picture ;) 

That little girl in the pink coat DOES belong to us :) Juli!!

I had a brilliant idea of taking a picture with all the kids by the lit up polar bear, but alas, the camera wouldn't focus if they were behind him, and so they were tired of cooperating.

They were on their last legs, as far as picture taking goes...

The natives were getting restless, and as we were leaving on wanted a picture of them by the lights, and Bill volunteered to take a picture for me, and alas, I took what I could get.

When we got home, we did our newest tradition. The Advent Book. My friend Karen, showed me hers several years and I have since wanted it. It's kind of expensive, but this year they were selling imperfect copies where the cover was not exactly perfect, for a discount. I decided to order one, and honestly you can't tell it's not perfect and the authors even signed it for us! It's really beautifully made and each page has a door for your to open and tells the Christmas story. Each day we will read all of the previous doors and open a new one. This will really help keep our focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

So begins our Advent activities for 2012!