We kicked off the holiday season with a trip to the Meijer Gardens the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. Here is a tip for those who live in this area; this is the best night to see their Christmas exhibit. The crowds are relatively small so you have plenty of space to move around and you can get a close up look at the trees.
Upon entering the Gardens, we were greeted by Santa Claus. Allison marched right up to him and hopped into his sleigh for a little chat. Allison is on great terms with Santa, because usually he has candy canes, so it is her mission to see Santa as many times and as many places as she can. Amelia sat on his lap too, however she was a little more reserved than her big sister.
After our visit, we looked at the trees and displays. In an attempt to get the girls to slow down and look at the trees, we played a game of "I Spy." We each took turns having the others guess what we spied. The game seemed to work as they were getting into looking at the trees. It also got us yelled at by an overzealous volunteer who mistook Allison's pointing as touching and yelled across the room, "NO TOUCHING THE ORNAMENTS." We 'politely' informed her that Allison was just pointing and that I'm six inches away from my children and watching them closely. I used to work on this particular Christmas exhibit years ago and ordered many of the ornaments that are still on display....trust me, I'm not letting the kids touch the ornaments.
After the Christmas trees, we took a look at the train exhibit, which the girls absolutely love. As you can see, Allison was very excited when she saw the trains coming...or wait, maybe she was scared. (This picture reminds me that I need another "picture outtake" blog entry.)
We finished the night with an arts and crafts project.
Even though the night was stressful with Brian and I barely recovered from the stomach flu the day before, me getting a late start with picking up the girls from daycare and getting stuck in traffic, Allison spilling her milk at Wendys, thus requiring Brian to make a mad dash to Meijer to pick up a new outfit, I'm glad that we went that night. I had debated about waiting a week to go. I'm fortunate we didn't wait since Mr. Meijer passed away later that week and his visitation was the next week at the Gardens, thus closing the facilities for two days. When I heard the news of his passing I was deeply saddened, as I had met him several times when I worked at the Gardens years ago. He was a generous and kind man. We are so fortunate that he was so supportive of the community and helped the Gardens become what it is today. Brian and I are very lucky that we are able to bring the girls there throughout the year. Thank you Mr. Meijer!
