The following weekend, some of our dearest friends, the Torio's, came to visit us at our new house and enjoy some of the traditions we celebrate here. They were here last year at this time so we could go to a Blackhawks vs Wild hockey game, but since the NHL is on strike this year, they chose the weekend of the Bears vs Vikings game. Only Adam and Paulo made it to the game, but we packed plenty of family fun in to the rest of the weekend.
Breakfast
Kristine and I took Conor and Madelyn to meet my mom and sister Laura at Laura's annual holiday family celebration, which included games, prizes, crafts, sleigh rides, petting zoo with Christmas animals like reindeer and donkeys, and lots of photo ops. I think they had a blast.
Here they are with a gingerbread girl...
...Conor with Rudolph...
...Collecting snowflakes in the wind booth together for prizes...
...Crazy hair paint...
...Face painting...
...and pictures in a sleigh with real reindeer, before we rode a horse-drawn sleigh ride.
Then, we did that thing that every crazy Minnesotan family does when they have visitors at Christmastime...we made a trip to the Mall of America. We waited in line forever at the food court, just to eat a fast food lunch we could have gotten anywhere...but it made the kids happy and their tummies full. Then we played at Legoland....
...went on some rides...
...and took the opportunity with a surprisingly short line, to sit on Santa's lap. Riley wasn't so sure about it without me right there, but eventually gave him a high five, and told him from a distance what she wanted. She was very consistent in wanting him to bring her a baby. Conor asked for a Spiderman Web Shooter.
We took a break to eat the yummy frosted cookies Santa gave them. Didn't he used to just give us candy canes or coloring books when we were little?
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were there for high fives, hugs, and pictures. Noah really got into the Ninja part. (Riley didn't want to be anywhere near them.)
HGTV network had a large display in the rotunda with beautiful Christmas lights, decorations, and some great places to take photos. We had a lot of fun with that...
Nope, we didn't stop there... Next place we headed was downtown Minneapolis to view the Hollidazzle parade. It was slightly warmer than last year, and this year we had four adults for four kids (compared to last year when Kristine and I brought them on our own), and with the kids being a little older and having had short naps in the car, I think they really enjoyed it. The big kids sat on the curb, while the little ones rode on our shoulders.
Afterwards, we found a display in Macy's where the kids could write letters to Santa and put them in a real mailbox...
Dear Santa, Please Give Me Presents. Love Conor.
We stopped for dinner and pie at Baker's Square then headed home to watch a short movie.
The next morning we woke up to quite the snowstorm...I think we had 10 inches by the time it was all over. It was wet heavy snow, which was not fun to shovel...kinda wish we had already bought a snowblower! I went out once in the morning and a sweet neighbor we haven't met yet had pity on me and came to help with his snowblower. Adam and I had to go back out later than night to do the whole thing all over again. We were both pretty sore the next day. It sure was pretty though....and definitely got me even more into the Christmas spirit.
On Sunday, we had the Johnson family Christmas at my mom's house. She always seems to pick a day when we get a big snowstorm, so that's become a family joke. Conor dressed up all fancy.
Kristine, Madelyn, and Noah joined us. We sat downstairs and watched kid Christmas movies like Rudolph and Frosty.
Cousins Carmen and Riley tried to stay out of trouble.
And Adam and Paulo got to go watch the Vikings beat up on the Bears.
