January 2nd - Zoolights

Well, our 2am bedtime did not mix well with Logan's choice to have a lousy night. Up multiple times between 5:30am and 7:30am, when I finally consigned myself to be up. Sharing a bedroom with him is definitely getting old and I am looking forward to being home for that reason. Also, living out of a suitcase is getting old too. Especially suitcases between 2 different houses. It's hard to keep track of what's clean and what's dirty, and making sure we have enough clothes at each house to last us. A dresser is looking really good about now.

But on to other things. The kids had a great time with their sleepover, but you can tell people are a bit tired today. The kids chose a movie to watch this morning while they ate breakfast. I think it's going to be a mostly quiet day. Alison came home sick too, so that doesn't look good either.

After Logan's nap, we headed out to the zoo to get some time looking at the animals before it gets too dark, and then to enjoy zoo-lights. Pretty much everyone was coming, so we were excited about that.

There were signs everywhere at the zoo advertising the new Penguin exhibit that will be coming soon. Lucy was pretty excited about those.


I decided to take a picture of our family with these penguin statues. All smiles! Then someone walking by offered to take a picture with all of us in it. Less smiles. My kids are pretty good about photo-op #1...but when mom joins the picture, they're done, so it's pretty difficult to get a decent photo with ALL of us in it. I'm pretty sure they like me...


And the dinosaur park was closed, probably due to ice, but Logan LOVED posing to take a picture with this dinosaur at the entrance. At one point he reach out and said, "Touch it?" as he touched the horn. That created this look of glee that I managed to catch in the photo.

We were the first to arrive, so we headed to the hippo house to wait for everyone else. I was really looking forward to seeing Logan interact with the animals. It got dark quickly and we didn't get to see very many animals at all, but the hippos never disappoint.


We even went into the TransAlta Rainforest with the Gorillas. It was totally dark in there and you couldn't see any animals except the bats, who are usually sleeping. They were full of activity. The darkness of the building made it kind of creepy.

Then it was time to enjoy zoo-lights. They've really done a great job this year. Lights and music that were timed together; a kids slide; and a play area with hay, snowman bowling, and ice-cube block stacking (styrofoam, but it looked like they were creating an igloo).



After the zoo, we headed to A&W for a bite to eat and to say goodbye to Janeen, because she was heading back to Utah the next morning. After a late night last night, and a busy day today, Max just couldn't make it all the way to A&W.

These late nights are worrying me. Who knows what travelling will be like on Wednesday!