Winter Wonder

 We LOVE winter and Christmas festivities in our household. I normally am obsessed with them, but I think we might be extra obsessed because of Griff and I's birthdays being around Christmas as well. Also, Christmas festivities are SO much more fun with Griff, and he is at a really fun age for them too! 

We kicked off the holiday festivities a little before Thanksgiving this year and went to Christmas at the Zoo a couple days before Thanksgiving - since we knew the crowds would be better. There were minimal to no crowds and we all loved exploring the lights! We also rode the train (Griff still really loves trains). They had an outdoor Santa greeting and we offered to let Griff go up and say hi from a distance, but he was rather hesitant to go up to him. 

On Griffin's birthday Tim was able to take the day off and we had a day full of birthday and festive fun! We had cinnamon rolls, opened presents, and went to Build-A-Bear, had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, went to Jingle Rails and the Eiteljorg, stopped by Christmas at the Zoo, and ended the night with dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and walking around downtown to see Christmas lights. A few days after Griff's birthday we also celebrated him with a shark birthday party at the aquatic center!

The weekend of my birthday Tim and Griff took me for a short trip in lieu of gifts - my request. We spent a day exploring the St Louis Zoo - one of our favorite zoos and free to get in! I especially love the penguin exhibit there and Griff really loved their playground (and climbed all the way to the top!). We also really loved seeing the hippos and gorillas and kangaroos (since we don't have these at the Indy Zoo now/yet) and riding the train (we got a really great view of the elephants up close). We also explored Forest Park a bit (which is gorgeous!) and Griff loved playing on all the different playgrounds. That evening we had pizza at a local chain (Griff loved and ate almost half the pizza!) and then spent the rest of the evening at the City Museum - which is much harder on my knees at 30 years old than it was a few years ago. Tim & I were so excited to take Griff to the City Museum and see what he thought of it - he ended up being a huge fan! If you haven't been, it is essentially like a big kids playground - a warehouse converted into floors of tunnels and slides. Griff was not afraid at all and loved the big slides (even going down a 4 story one!). I think I was more nervous for him than he was. It was such a sweet trip and a sweet reminder of when Tim and I came to St Louis for our 1st anniversary. 

We left from St Louis and went straight to French Lick for the Polar Express! We had family join us this year which was wonderful! When we went last time Griff was 1 and it was just us 3 (which was so sweet), but he also really loved having family along this time! We spent some time swimming at the hotel (Griff really liked the lazy river again!) then went down for the Polar Express. Griff was a bit wary of Santa still and wasn't running out to dance in the aisles, but he loved the hot chocolate (even spilling it on us multiple times...) and was very observant the entire time. We had pizza for dinner that night and then explored French Lick and its hotels a bit more before heading out for home the next day. We already can't wait to go again next year...mama especially (as it's such a sweet memory for me!)

In the weeks leading up to Christmas we also had a couple cookie bake days - one with family and one with friends. I always look forward to this and Griff is starting to be more of a helper and more involved, which makes it more fun. We also went to look at Christmas lights many nights - loading up in the car with blankets and driving around the neighborhood or down to the park. I LOVE doing this and look forward to it every year.

We celebrated Christmas with extended family mostly the weekend/week before Christmas - Griff loved getting to play with all his cousins and was soo excited to open presents this year!). We also had a celebration with my dad's side on Christmas Eve and spent the day eating, playing board games, and opening presents. That evening we watched Encanto (we'd been waiting for it to release!) and set all our stuff out for Santa. 

Christmas Day we always celebrate just as our immediate family and it is always so sweet and calm (I love getting to soak in the day and not rush around). We read the Christmas story upon getting up then opened presents and played with presents, ate breakfast, and watched the Disney Christmas special that morning. In the afternoon we made Jesus "cupcakes" for His birthday and got in a nice walk and some park time - thank goodness for warm weather! We spent the evening cuddled up watching Christmas movies - my favorite. 

Tim was off the week after Christmas! We normally choose to take a trip then but decided to do a "staycation" this year. We spent the week doing all our favorite things - park time, Zoo time, and just being together. We also went to UIndy one day and got Enzo's Pizza, went to see the Danville WinterLights show, drove to Pokagon State Park and did the "Toboggan Run", and went to the Children's Museum (once with just us and one day with Griff's cousins!). Though we missed a "getaway" and warm weather, it was a fun and sweet week making memories around home too. 

This Christmas season was such a sweet one and Griff was at such a sweet age. We were sad to see it go but relished in the season with our family and are already looking forward to getting to keep some of the traditions from this year and past years in the next year as well.