Nature in Lights

If you do something two years in a row, is it a tradition?

I think so.

So tonight, we continued our annual tradition of going to see the lights in Belton with Andrew and his mom. Unlike last year, Jack got to come along and we packed all three kids in the back seat.

Also unlike last year, Andrew's mom, Helen and I did not bother to print out directions.

Ha! Who needs directions?

Um, apparently Helen and I do.

I am pretty sure that the place we went to was about 35 miles away and should have taken 45 minutes. Key words: should have.

Two hours into our adventure, we arrived at the right place.

Fortunately, Helen is as flexible as I am (in addition, apparently, to having my direction sense) and the kids were more or less happy in the back seat with food, drink, and lots and lots of toys.

We saw a lot of great light displays. Sydney's favorite this year was the moose juggling candy canes. Andrew liked the back hoe digging a hole for Santa to plant a Christmas tree. Helen liked the caterpillar and Jack liked it all.

My favorite, though, was Santa fishing for a whale. For some reason I found this hilarious.

We stopped at the end to take a bathroom break and I decided to take a picture of the kids outside of the car. Helen decided to keep the kids from running in the street while I was busy with the camera. See what a great pair we are?

I know I just spent five hours in the car with my kids, and that should have been about an hour and half too much, but we had a great time.

Next year, though, we're bringing the GPS. And we're leaving at 5:00 to beat the crowd.