Rescheduled

I mentioned a post or twelve back that we had planned a family date night to include a car ride through the Botanical Gardens. Friends, we finally made it. About three days before Christmas, and the kids are still asking about when we get to go back to see all the 'lovely and beautiful lights'. Suffice it to say, they enjoyed it. So did Joshua and I, but I think we were more entertained by the commentary the children provided as we drove through.

We did learn this year that we intend to do the walk through tour next year, weather permitting. The line to get in was in.cred.i.ble. See? Plus around the curve a bit farther.

But we finally made it to the patrol car with the flashing lights, the turn in, the welcoming lights. And the older three kids were allowed to leave the confines of their car seats and join us up front to look out the windows. The back windows are, shall we say, dirty. (Filthy. Caked with handprints and nose prints and snot streaks. The kids assistance in cleaning them includes baby wipes or napkins that have wiped grease off their hands or mouths. Ugh. Not good ideas for window washing, let me just share that gem of wisdom.)



Oh, and that set of tail lights...make friends with them. We did. For nearly an hour and a half, they were our guide. We followed them around every curve and over every bump. When they braked, we braked. We had us some real bonding going on there.


So anyway...Elizabeth crawled up in my lap, Sarah Grace helped Joshua drive and Thomas steadied himself between the front two seats and jabbered right in our ears as we toured the Galaxy of Lights.



It was, honestly, great fun. Several of the displays elicited very imaginative images and hilarious descriptions from Thomas and Sarah Grace. Below, you will see Thomas' car wash. The lights were hung in strands making it look like sparkling snowflakes falling to the ground. Or that was the intended effect. In the Freeman vehicle, it was 'like going through that car washer tunnel'. (It didn't do anything for the cleanliness of the windows, I assure you.)


Elizabeth was very excited by the 'yights' and insisted on informing us each time she saw a new lit up something. Which was every 2.4 seconds. After the first three or four minutes, she decided that she was tired of the word, or perhaps her little eyes and brain were in such overload, she just forgot to say it out loud. She was taken by many objects that she knew the names of, but none so much as the 'deh-yuh' that were feeding in the fields. She got very excited each time she saw deer or something that vaguly resembeled a deer.

There was a long stretch devoted to Mother Goose characters. We drove slowly and recited the rhymes to each lit up dipiction of the characters. Humpty Dumpty was entertaining, but Sarah Grace regaled us with a little known fact about Jack Be Nimble. Joshua and I had just finished chanting the rhyme...

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack jumped over the candle stick!

when Sarah Grace, not missing a beat, tagged on...

and his pants smelled like toast!

Joshua and I giggled like teenagers as the family contemplated the smell of Jack's pants.

So, come about that first week of December next year, er, this year...whatever. If ya'll are looking for entertainment, come on with us. With four trying to verbalize their thoughts, next trip promises to be more grand entertainment!

***DISCLAIMER*** No, I am not a great photographer, but be nice. We were riding in a car on a semi-rainy night. Don't I at least get brownie points for providing illustrations???