christmas candylane 2010

at the moment i'm sitting in my favorite chair in my family room.
i just woke up from a great 1 1/2 hr nap that was much needed after the full weekend we have had (and a LONG morning at church!)
but my chair is in a different spot because the christmas tree is where the chair used to be.
the christmas tree lights are on.
pat and rebekah have just woken up from their naps and are laying on the couch together watching football.
bailey just came down and climbed up on top of pat with her hair sticking out all over from her nap.
joshua is sitting on the other chair TOTALLY focused on the football game.
sawyer is awake and in his crib waiting for me to come get him.
my life at the moment is pretty perfect {that is, if you just looked at that scene...let's just ignore my heart and mind today, ok? that's what i'm doing...}

yesterday morning we told the kids to get their hats, gloves and coats and get in the car.
"we were going to a couple places and it would probably be cold."
a little while into our drive we told them where we were really going....
Hersheypark's Christmas Candylane!
and the panter's were coming, too!!!
the excitement in the car was something i'll remember for a long, long time...

we drove through the entrance to the gate at the same time as the panter's - which was amazing!
we parked next to each other and ate our packed lunches in our cars.
then we bundled up and headed in!

as we walked into the park, there were snow flurries!
there was christmas music playing, lights on all the trees, excitement on all the kids' {and adults!} faces.
we were all with people we LOVED being with!
it was just one of those moments that seemed like perfection...

sawyer getting measured...he was tall enough to ride some of the rides!

aren't the smiles precious???

holly was the only adult to ride a ride.
and i think she regretted it afterwards :-)
but she kept our girls from flying out!

what a gift she is.
she is such an amazing combination of a God-fearing, FUN, deep, beautiful, strong woman.

santa's reindeer

sawyer didn't ride too many rides (his choice...but he did love the ones he rode!)

hot chocolate and homemade potato chip break!

waiting for santa to come back from his break
{we didn't mind waiting! it was WARM in there!}

did the chocolate world tour {again, it was WARM!}

then went back into the park for a couple more rides.
the atmosphere is so beautiful as it gets dark...with all the christmas lights everywhere!

this one is blurry...but i love sawyer's face...so full of wonder!

they were all pretty cold.
last ride of the night...

then we drove to cracker barrel.
the girl didn't blink when i said, "we have 12."
they gave us 2 tables next to each other...one seated 8, the other 4.
we put all the kids {except sawyer} at the big table! :-)

the kids changed into their pj's for the ride home.
a perfect ending to a perfect day.

same time, same place next time, panters??? :-)