Winter 2018: Part II - Adventures

This past December we made our annual visit to the lightshow at Evergreen church in Bothell. They've made a few noticeable improvements, like making their winter train village visible from the outside.

The show itself has some new features, and there's a snow machine outside now.

In previous years I've only come to Wild Waves with Lights after Christmas, so this year I wanted to go beforehand to see what the difference is. Turns out it's just Santa and a lot more people. After Christmas is definitely the way to go!

 Allie, of course, wanted to "ride the horsies." It was the biggest line for the carousel I've ever seen. She was a bit difficult to wrangle in line. The horsies make her so excited she just can't contain herself.

Tyler and Oscar had a super long wait for the Kangabounce while Allie and I rode the carousel. Luckily it wasn't too cold.

Last year there was a lightshow, but we missed it since the kids pooped out 45 minutes before it was supposed to start. I was sad they didn't have it this year. :(

 Rudolph and Frosty!

I was extra cautious when Allison got on the boats not to let her sit in any water (like they both did last year), though she did put her gloved hand in the water. Fortunately I'd brought some spare ones.

The kids' area was not particularly exciting this year. They didn't give out any prizes for playing the games (besides a high 5. Last year they gave out candy), and the show was just a singalong.

Allison wasn't interested in the show, so I took her up to the train and planes. This is the first Christmas I've seen the train operating. The bushes were lit up throughout the ride, which made for a cute Children's Christmas train.

We met Santa on our way up the hill. There was no line at all, which suprised me considering how busy the park was.

Tyler and Oscar joined us after meeting Santa and the kids went on the train together. I got to do the roller coaster, which was really neat to ride while seeing the Christmas lights.  Then we took them on the Scrambler before starting our walk out.

 The kids were cute jumping up and down in front of the curtain of lights.

 And a few last pics before we left.

The weather looked good the Wednesday before Christmas, so we drove up to Marysville to ride the Santa train at CederCrest Tour of Lights. It was a longer wait than I've ever seen there, which I wasn't expecting because it was a Wednesday. When Tyler and I came on their closing night a couple years ago, it was the Friday before christmas, and the line was long but still within that tent. I didn't think it could possibly be longer than that, but this line went way beyond the tent. We'd psyched up the kids about the "Santa Train" and driven in traffic for an hour up to Marysville, so I knew we couldn't just turn around and go home.

I told Oscar to take the kids to get dinner while I waited in line for 90 minutes. It was a particularly warm night for December, and there was no rain in the forecast, so I think that's the biggest crowd predictor. Next time we'll need to go earlier in the month or on a rainy night.

Most of our pictures are really fuzzy due to trying to take them while riding on a moving vehicle in the dark. The memories are more important anyway. Allison was completely mesmerized while Tyler was super excited and bouncy the whole time.

 

I love the golf themed decorations and that we get to stop at the north pole to meet Santa.

And the Saturday before Christmas the kids got to sit on Santa's lap at the Children's Museum.