Christmas in the Northwest: Part V - The Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach

I'd been meaning to visit "The Lights of Christmas" for several years now, but as it's a long drive, it costs about $15 a piece (except for Tyler), and Oscar's not particularly crazy about Christmas lights, I'd never gotten around to it. However, this year Oscar had just gotten a new phone and had been fiddling around with all the fancy camera settings, so he was happy to come along and try it out. I got back from work earlier than I'd expected to on the 22nd, and the weather was predicted to be clear through the night, so we headed up north. Mom opted out of this one since she wasn't feeling well, but the rest of us had fun. Ty especially loved having daddy come along. Mommy and Grandma are just so boring sometimes! ;)

Though this was the most expensive place we visited, the area is enormous and there was a lot to see. There was also additional entertainment, like shows, camel rides, train rides, and visiting Santa, but Ty was a bit too young to get much out of anything but the petting zoo. He also thoroughly enjoyed seeing the lights and kept trying to touch them. He even managed to pull off the bulbs of a few of the larger ones along the walkway, which fortunately were easily reattached. There was only one point where he got super restless, but a mini candy cane left over from Everett Fir Grove kept him happy. 

They had some moving lights like I'd seen at the zoo, but they moved a lot slower. I wondered if it was intentionally timed that way or if it just slows down naturally over time.

These mountains looked amazing! They're accented nicely by a full moon.

And these trees and canoes looked really cool reflected off the water.

We all need some frolicking gingerbread men and an enormous blue light tree!

The candy cane trees and tunnel really jumped out at me, and the Santa with his reindeer on the rooftop is very well done.

During the summer this place is a large Bible camp, so of course there was a gorgeous nativity scene. The row of angels was nice too. I liked how some are flying a few feet off the ground.

It was definitely a fun night, though be aware of the mud you'll encounter getting from the parking lot to the entrance. The wheels of Tyler's stroller were caked in it as we were leaving, so we had to wrap them in a blanket to avoid getting mud all over our car.

For more entries in the Christmas in the Northwest series, see

Christmas in the Northwest: Part I - Bellevue Garden d'Lights and Festival of the Nativity

Christmas in the Northwest: Part II - Teddy Bear Suite, Gingerbread Displays, and Pike's Place Market

Christmas in the Northwest: Part III - Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo

Christmas in the Northwest: Part IV - Fir Grove in Everett, Bothell Country Village, and Evergreen Church Lightshow

Christmas in the Northwest: Part VI - Zoolights in Tacoma

Christmas in the Northwest: Part IV - Fir Grove in Everett, Bothell Country Village, and Evergreen Church Lightshow

Country Village Shops

I live in Everett, WA, but this was the first year I heard about Everett's Fir Grove neighborhood, which is only a few miles away from where I live and directly across the street from Costco where I shop regularly. There the neighborhood houses all decorate big time for the holidays. You drive or walk up and down all the lanes and they all lead back to the same main road. We didn't take many pictures since we stayed in the car and didn't want to hold up the traffic behind us, but I did get this pic above of a particularly lit up home. Some were even more impressive than this, and Santa was there to greet Ty and give us mini candy canes.

Not too far from Everett is Bothell, where there are a couple of cute festive areas to check out. The Country Village Shops light up all over. There's a famous duck pond in the middle of the area, so they have cute lit up ducks in some of the parking stalls.

Evergreen Church Lightshow

And just a few miles away from the Country Village shops is Evergreen church. They put on a Christmas light show with music each year that's over 40 minutes long. This was another one where we got incredibly lucky with the rain. The parking lot was completely empty because it'd been pouring rain before we arrived, but it stopped right as we were pulling up.

It picked up again about 30 minutes later, but fortunately they're prepared for that. There were outdoor heaters and a covered viewing area right in front of the church, so you could still enjoy the show even when it really started coming down.

 

Nearby there was a cute walkway with Christmas trees and a nativity scene.

Beautiful!

And there was an indoor area with a cool train set and free cookies and hot chocolate. Everything is free, actually, though there's a little kiosk inside if you'd like to make a donation.

For more entries in the Christmas in the Northwest series, see

Christmas in the Northwest: Part I - Bellevue Garden d'Lights and Festival of the Nativity

Christmas in the Northwest: Part II - Teddy Bear Suite, Gingerbread Displays, and Pike's Place Market

Christmas in the Northwest: Part III - Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo

Christmas in the Northwest: Part V - The Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach

Christmas in the Northwest: Part VI - Zoolights in Tacoma

Christmas in the Northwest: Part III - Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo

Although it was pouring rain and predicted to continue doing so throughout the evening, we drove up from downtown to check out Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo. The weather was reasonably warm and we had rain gear with us, so we weren't too concerned, but to our great delight the rain literally stopped the moment we arrived. I felt the last couple drops as we got out of the car, and then it stayed dry for the vast majority of our visit.

It was $9.75 a person, with Tyler being free since he's under 2, and I thought it was absolutely worth it. A lot of the zoo is closed off, but everywhere you can walk is covered in lights, including the bathrooms. There are also cute little animal displays along the path.

My favorite were the moving displays. The first we saw was this monkey swinging through the trees. There was also a salamander munching the grass, a salmon jumping through the river, a penguin diving, and an eagle flying.

Most of the animals sleep at night, but we were able to see a few of the ones that live indoors, like the meerkats and the reptiles.

There were also a couple of caribou reindeer. Ty was fascinated by the antlers.

My favorite part, though, was the elephant stampede. Unfortunately I only captured part of it in the above picture, but you can still see the outlines of the elephants above the water. First the deer runs across while the hippo and giraffe drink from the water, then ever so gradually, the elephant lights get bigger as they come closer and closer. 

We finished our stroll through the zoo and took a picture with the penguin before taking Tyler into the kids' area. It started raining again right as we were walking in. He'd been sitting around all day in the stroller, so it gave him a nice chance to run around and get his energy out. We stayed longer than I intended to since he was enjoying it so much.

Such a cute boy coming through the tunnel that was too small for mommy to follow him through.

Our TV at home is 5 feet up the wall, so Ty's never showed a whole lot of interest in it. Here he enjoyed getting up close to the screens and trying to touch the penguins.

It was pouring by then, so we finished up our visit by strolling through the reptile house and into the "Jungle Lights." The Jungle Lights were behind glass and showed Tigers roaming through the jungle. All in all we loved our visit, would highly recommend it, and will absolutely return again.

For more entries in the Christmas in the Northwest series, see

Christmas in the Northwest: Part I - Bellevue Garden d'Lights and Festival of the Nativity

Christmas in the Northwest: Part II - Teddy Bear Suite, Gingerbread Displays, and Pike's Place Market

Christmas in the Northwest: Part IV - Fir Grove in Everett, Bothell Country Village, and Evergreen Church Lightshow

Christmas in the Northwest: Part V - The Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach

Christmas in the Northwest: Part VI - Zoolights in Tacoma