Holiday Express (more Christmas traditions!)

Happy belated Christmas, friends!  I hope that whatever holiday you celebrate was full of lots of laughter, love, joy, and time spent with family and friends.  

I have SO much to catch up on, blog-wise.  The time from Thanksgiving to Christmas flew by in a blink, and I have not had time to even catch a breath!  I have several Christmas-related posts that I'd like to get to before January arrives, including Lilly's 11-month update.  Sheesh, it's enough to give me a headache just thinking about it!  

I blogged a few weeks ago about new traditions that we're starting with Lilly around Christmas time.  There are a few that I didn't do this year because I ran out of time, such as making gingerbread houses and baking cookies for Santa.  Seeing as how she's too young to remember this year, I got a bye, but next year I'll have to budget my time better.  ;-)  Anyway, one of my FAVORITE new traditions that we started this year was that we took Lilly to the Holiday Express at Pullen Park.

I think I may have blogged about Pullen Park before - back when I was pregnant with L it re-opened after renovations.  Dan and I spent an afternoon there, and I couldn't wait for Lilly to be born so that we could enjoy the park as a family.  Pullen Park was actually the first public park in NC, and y'all, if you live in the Raleigh area and have never been, you HAVE to go, even if you don't have kids.  There is a playground, carousel, boats, a train, and delicious food not to mention a ton of activities.  Lilly and I have been to meet Dan for lunch several times, and we take family outings there often.  We all love it!  Anyway, every year in December, the park is transformed into a Winter Wonderland.  They put up a TON of lights which  makes the night time train ride amazing, and there are all kinds of crafts, concessions, entertainment (children's choirs, carolers, bands, etc.) and Santa is there!

I should back up and explain that we were lucky to even score tickets this year.  I heard about the Holiday Express a while ago, but forgot to get tickets until around Thanksgiving.  Much to my dismay, when I went to purchase tickets, they were ALL SOLD OUT.  I even drove to Pullen Park to try to be put on a waiting list, and the event is so popular that they were no longer taking waiting list requests because they knew they wouldn't be able to fill them all.  I was seriously heartbroken.  We had the idea to look on Craigslist, and I kid you not, I just happened to look at the exact moment that someone was putting their tickets up for sale, and I was able to buy them there.  I was back on Craigslist a few times after hoping to find another set so that Steph, Jon and Hadley could come with, and literally every other post on Craigslist was by people who either wanted to trade nights or who were looking for tickets - I was able to get the only pair of tickets being sold.  Hooray!  I have already set an alarm on my calendar starting July 1, 2013 (July 1 is when the tickets went on sale this year) that will go off daily to remind me to buy tickets until I get them, so that another sellout doesn't damper our plans next year!

Anyway, I digress.  So the tickets cost $8/each for adults and children over 2, and everything except refreshments is included.  We weren't really sure how much Lilly would be able to do, but we thought at the very least it would be a fun thing to check out to see if we wanted to come back next year.  I am here to tell you that we will be attending this event every year for as long as they have it, because it was beyond fantastic.  The lights were beautiful, the entertainment was awesome, and the whole thing was just amazing.  The crafts were obviously a little old for L so we didn't do those, but seriously I would have paid $20/ticket for it, we ALL had so much fun.

There were so many people in attendance that there was no parking at Pullen - you had to park across the street and take a shuttle over. This is the part that I was the most worried about, because since it didn't start until 5 and L goes to bed between 7:30-8:00, I didn't want to spend a ton of time waiting.  Luckily, there were quite a few shuttles running and we ended up only having to wait in line for maybe 10-15 minutes, so it wasn't bad at all.  We all had on our excited faces:

L LOVED the bus ride (perhaps because she wasn't restrained in a car seat?) but did not love the camera flash.

Mommy and Lilly at the entrance of the park.

It wasn't super dark when we arrived, and we knew Lilly would be hungry sooner than later, so we chose to ride the carousel first and then eat and save the train ride for when it was darker.  

Standing in line for the carousel

L was intrigued by whatever animal that was that she was about to ride...

To say that she loved the carousel ride would be an understatement...

After the carousel ride, we checked out the line to see Santa and it wasn't long, so we decided to go ahead and eat, then see Santa and then ride the train before heading home.  I am not sure whether I have stated my Santa requirements before on the blog, but Santa was a HUGE deal growing up in the Eaker house...I remember driving across town every year to see Santa because the one at the particular store we went to was seriously the best ever.  This was giving me anxiety, because my pictures with Santa from when I was younger are a lot to live up to (ha!).  In other words, I wanted to him to be legit.  None of this fake beard nonsense.  I posted on Facebook about it and asked everyone I knew. In the end, since the entry fee to the Holiday Express was only $8, I was not expecting a lot from Santa and fully intended to drive across town to a mall that allegedly has the best Santa in Raleigh at a later date.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised.  Not only was Santa legit, but the visit with him was included in the price of the arm band AND YOU GOT TO TAKE YOUR OWN PHOTOS.  That alone made it worth every penny we paid and more, because most places with legit Santas make you pay to see him and then again for photos that they take!  I wasn't sure what L would think of the man in the red suit, but she thought he was hilarious:

Santa is legit...look at that beard!

She giggled at him for a full minute before she started trying to figure out how to take that ball off of his hat:

I was very pleasantly surprised at the way the photos turned out.  Hooray, Santa!  It took longer than we anticipated to eat and visit with Santa, so by the time we we'd finished with him it was 7:15ish.  I fully intended to keep Lilly out a little later than normal, so we headed over to see how long the line for the train was.  On the way, we stopped for a few minutes to watch Frosty because Lilly was intrigued...

...and then we stopped again to play with some of the light displays:

I love this one because it looks like she's caroling, too.  Ha!

Unfortunately, since the train ride is pretty much the main attraction, the line was SUPER long.  Lilly was in such a great mood and had done so well with Santa that we didn't want to push our luck (she was already yawning and rubbing her eyes), so we decided to save the train ride for next year.  She's' ridden it plenty of times sans lights and loves it, and it's not like she'll remember that when she was 11 months old she didn't get to ride the train and see the lights, ha!

Someone who was catching the shuttle back at the same time we were was nice enough to snap a family photo for us:

And then we busted out the lovie for the 2 minute bus ride because homegirl was exhausted from all of the activity:

We had such a wonderful time at this event, and I am already excited to go again next year, especially since Lilly will understand a little more.  I can't say enough, if you're in the Raleigh area and have kids, you should definitely check out Pullen Park's Holiday Express.  The Baums can't wait to make many more wonderful Christmas memories in the coming years with this fun new tradition!

Sarah

29

It is always so busy around this time of year, and I have SO much to catch up on, including the blog as well as finishing my Christmas shopping and wrapping a gazillion presents EEK!!!.  I have a list of about 10 things I need to post about.  Hopefully I can tackle all of it before the end of the year!

Yesterday was my 25th 29th birthday (sigh).  Time sure is flying.  I can remember last year around this time vividly.  It was just before I was put on bed rest, and I was so excited about my birthday for the first time in years because it meant that I was that much closer to meeting my baby girl.  28 was a big year for me.  As Steph wrote in my birthday card, it's gonna be hard to top this past year, but I can't wait to try.  Bring it on, 29.

Dan would never admit it, but he can be so sweet and thoughtful and romantic, and this birthday was one of the best I can remember.  Maybe it's just that motherhood has turned me into a total sap.  Anyway, the birthday celebration started on Sunday morning.  I woke Lilly up early in hopes that she would take an early (and short) nap because we planned to go to church, which is right in the middle of her normal nap time.  We'd just finished breakfast and I was cleaning the dishes when the doorbell rang.  I thought to myself, "seriously who is here unannounced on a Sunday morning before 10am?"  Then I heard Steph's voice.  Um, what?  Turns out, Dan and Steph had been scheming behind my back, stealth style.  Remember the bestie spa day at The Umstead that our husbands got us for our first Mother's Day?  We hadn't yet gotten around to going, so Steph came and kidnapped me for the day.  Jon had other plans, so Dan was keeping the girls.  Seriously, how cute are they?  I later found out that Dan wanted the spa day to happen on my actual birthday - he had taken off work to keep the girls and had even called to clear it with my boss - but they were booked.  Anyway, Steph and I had a glorious time and I am SO GLAD that she and Dan worked so hard and made this happen (it was no easy feat, from what I understand), because I really needed it.  It was so nice to relax for a while and not worry about anything.  Steph and I both told our husbands that they don't have to ever get us anything else for Mother's Day, ever, because we want a bestie spa day at least yearly.  :-)

On Monday morning, Dan took the morning off and made me my favorite breakfast, the same breakfast that my Mom has made me every year that I've been with her on my birthday: french toast and bacon.  I think it may be Lilly's favorite, too.  Then, I got to open presents!  Dan, Lilly and Layla spoiled me rotten, and I love all of my gifts.  Dan and I planned to go to a birthday dinner date last night, but I wasn't feeling well.  As a result, we ordered takeout and rented a movie, which Dan let me choose in honor of my birthday.  I chose Magic Mike.  Let's just say that Dan is an excellent sport for sitting through that one!  Anyway, it was a wonderful day, and I am so thankful that I got to spend it with my little family.  

I somehow managed to forget to take any photos to commemorate the occasion, but since posts are much more fun with photos, here are a few from my iPhone from the past week:

Best birthday gift EVER...Layla has started letting Lilly get close to her!  

I realize that Layla looks terrified, but I just KNOW that this is the beginning of BFF-ness...

Totally unphased by the Chick Fil A Santa cow.  Loved him!

28 brought me so much joy in the form of one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given, Miss Lillian Grace.  I am looking so forward to 29 and everything that it has in store.  If my birthday celebration is any indication, the year will certainly be fantastic.  Thanks to all of my friends and family for the birthday love and well wishes.  Happy birthday to me!  

Sarah

New Traditions

Poor, neglected blog!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is already December.  Where does the time go?  We had yet another busy weekend - but at least we were in town, for once!  We did some Christmas decorating - I didn't even put out half of the stuff I usually do this year, though, partly because I didn't have the energy and partly because Miss L is into everything.  My work Holiday party was Saturday night, and then today we took Lilly to Pullen Park for the Holiday Express.  It was fantastic and I promise to blog about it later in the week - hopefully tomorrow.

Tonight I wanted to play catch up and blog about a new Baum family Christmas tradition.  Last weekend, we went to the mountains (Boone, NC) to pick out a Christmas tree!  My sister's husband, Josh, told me at one point that his family goes to the mountains every year to pick out their tree, and I thought it was a wonderful idea and just knew that we had to start doing the same with our family.  It doesn't hurt that my parents are in the process of building a house in Boone, so it will be really easy in the future (and let's face it, you never have to twist our arms to head to Boone, the greatest place on earth).  For this first trip, my parents house is still under construction, so we rented a cabin in Banner Elk and headed to the mountains on Friday afternoon for the weekend.  My parents met us there on Friday night, and my sisters (and Josh) headed up the mountain to meet us on Saturday.  I was secretly hoping for cold weather - something about it makes it feel more like Christmas.  It was decidedly not cold, but the weather was absolutely beautiful.  My parents found a little family-owned Christmas Tree Farm very close to their cabin, because we all like the idea of being able to return to the same farm every year.  We ended up at Cornett Deal Christmas Tree Farm, and y'all, it is SO CUTE and perfect.  We had the best time!  

When we got there, we told them what size trees we were looking for, and we took a hay ride to pick out the trees we wanted (Lilly loved this part the most).  The folks at the farm cut the trees down for us and took care of everything else (drilled, shaken, baled and loaded onto the car).  They also have the cutest little shop where you can buy all kinds of local crafts - and the snickerdoodle cookies were so yummy.  When we were in the craft shop, a family of four came in and they were very taken with Lilly.  The mother told me that they had started the same tradition at the very same tree farm when her oldest child was Lilly's age, and now her kids are 10 and 12.  So neat.  I took quite a few a million photos and I couldn't narrow it down as usual, so I'll finish the post out with those.  I am looking so forward to continuing this tradition and making wonderful memories for Lilly and whatever future siblings she may have.  

TOO excited to nap on the way to the mountains.

Could you die over the hat?!  I surely could.  Thanks, Grandmommy!

What is it with this child eating hay?  She acts like she's malnourished!

Shout out to Miss Brenda on the TO DIE FOR red Cole Haan shoes...LOVE.

L wasn't sure what to think of the trees

Silly Daddy!  

Carney's baby tree that L picked out for her!

L was so worn out after all of the activity that we barely strapped her into the car seat before she was asleep.  Sweet girl!

Snuggles with Paw Paw on the porch overlooking Grandfather Mountain.  Can't beat it!

I just love Christmas time...it's my favorite time of year!  Our tree turned out perfectly, it is fat and I love it.  I'll try to post a pic of the finished product at some point.  

Sarah