Christmas Lights!

Before Christmas we went one evening to a drive thru light display. 

Half way through, there was an area to park and you could go into the light village.

We walked through the lighted forest! Both the girls really enjoyed seeing all of the pretty lights.

There was also a short musical that we watched. We ended up being some of the last people in line for the show so we got to sit in the VIP seats. Grace's favorite part was when it "snowed" during their last song.

There were also a few carnival rides. The girls wanted to ride the carousel and it went FAST!

It was hard to get a picture of them going by because it went so fast that by the time I saw them and clicked the button they were already gone most of the time.

We picked a great evening to go. It wasn't too crowded and the weather was really nice.

Grace wanted to pose in front of all the light displays for a picture.

Olivia didn't want to stay still long enough.

It was a little farther than I thought. Our GPS also took us the way we did not want to go. It was fun but I doubt we will go back next year. They charge admission but I found a good deal on Groupon.

Christmas Fantasy at the Zoo

The rain finally stopped so we were able to go see the snow, lights, and fireworks at the zoo! It was a really fun experience and we all had a good time.

{ready to go!}

{bundled up and waiting in line to see SNOW!}

{We are in an Igloo!}

{and there was a snowman}

We saw that you could pay 500 Yen to ride down a slide and we decided it wasn't worth it. But when we saw it we thought it might be fun after all. They let Grace go free too!

{Weeeee!!}

After we saw the snow it was time to eat so we went up to the pavilion we used for Grace's birthday party. We had packed a meal for Grace since most of the food at this type of thing is either noodles or fried and we are not fans of either. We ended up getting some french fries for us and hot chocolate from the vending machine! While we were eating we spotted a big inflatable Elmo and thought Dustin could win it for Grace. I am confident he would have won if we had more clear of instructions. We thought you had to throw the ball and hit the numbers and get 3 in a row. Turns out you had to throw the ball hard enough to knock the number out of the frame they were in. We didn't find this out until after he had hit a number and didn't have enough balls left for a bingo. Oh, well. Grace ended up with an inflatable wand instead!

When it got dark they lit up the entire park in Christmas lights. It was so pretty!! The pictures are not very good but you can somewhat tell what we saw.

Then we started making our way back to the entrance so we could watch the laser light show from there and then make a quick exit. Grace thoroughly enjoyed the laser lights! She was clapping and dancing to the music!

{watching the light show}

{on Daddy's shoulders}

We have taken several videos the last few days and I finally moved them to the computer so I am going to share a few.

The first 4 are from the zoo!

{checking out the snow}

{the little sled ride}

{still the King of Pop in Japan}

{this is very bad quality but I think you can get a little idea of what it like here!}

Grace had a wonderful Christmas morning! She got a new kitchen from Santa Claus and food, pots & pans, and a baking set from Mommy and Daddy. She got a lot of other things too - way too many to name them all!

{Grace playing with her new kitchen from Santa on Christmas morning}

Christmas Eve was a gorgeous day! Dustin fixed the wagon (a screw had came out) and took Grace for a ride on our balcony.

{going for a ride}

Our Wonderful Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! I am going to share our day in pictures (starting with Wednesday!)

{Grace painted a Christmas card for her Daddy on Wednesday}

{These poinsettias have been blooming outside our house for a few weeks! Those are our Christmas lights in the picture too}

On Christmas Eve we decided to make some fudge. It was a lot more difficult than I imagined. It took close to 30 min before it got to the right temperature. But it turned out GREAT!

{Grace got to help by licking the spoon}

{Mmmm... Delicious!}

On Thursday night we went to the Botanical Gardens light display. We were disappointed to find out that they are not doing the light show and fireworks this year.

{Here is a small glimpse of what we saw}

{This is one of the main photo op places}

{They gave us 20 tickets worth 100 Yen each when we went in the gate. We walked all over trying to find something to buy with them. Finally, we decided on a game where for 300 Yen you pick a marble out of a bucket and find a prize with a matching color. Grace got this princess wand!}

Then it was time to head home so we could go to sleep so Santa could come. Grace got to wear her cute Christmas PJ's and she set out cookies and egg nog for Santa and then fell asleep.

{It looks like Santa has been here!!!}

This morning when she woke up she just kept pointing at the door which is her way of telling me she wants to go to the living room. I think she knew that Santa had come! Maybe she heard his reindeer last night?

After we fed Grace breakfast we set up the web cam so my parents and one of my brothers could watch Grace open her presents. She had so much fun playing with her new things that she never opened the last one! She was also much more into the web cam than she has ever been. She played peek-a-boo with my Mom for quite a while! We had the computer on the coffee table and Grace would duck down and then stand up and say "Boo." It was so cute to watch!!

{She LOVES her kitchen and pots and pans}

{she played with this almost all day}

{But she didn't forget about her old toys}

I decided I would make a big Christmas lunch. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, and honey wheat rolls.

{There was so much Grace needed 2 plates!!}

We had planned on going to the zoo tonight to see the light show and snow but it was raining and they won't put snow out if it is raining. Hopefully it will be a nice day tomorrow! Instead we just decided to go for a drive. We thought we might be able to pick up some dinner somewhere on base but EVERYTHING was closed. Then we decided to go to Toy's R Us (we noticed that almost everything off-base was open) but Grace started getting tired of the car and we were passing by our house so we decided that home would be just as good. We did enjoy getting out of the house even if we never even got out of the car!

{All in all it was a great day!}