Seasonal Weekend Fun

First of all, HOORAY for a healthy family once more!  Neal only dipped down for a day or two and the kids, after 6 days are themselves!  They missed all their school fun like the holiday sing-along, pajama day, and of course the class parties.  We did do a little party for them at home and they liked it but we all know it wasn't the same. There awesome teachers sent them messages via email and Facebook and sent a wrapped gift (books) home to each.

This morning, I set out for the first Mom's That Get Around 5K.  It was an unofficial 5K and there were no drink stops or medals but we had fun getting together and burning off some of the holiday treats we've been consuming.  At least 15 showed up. I ran it in an unofficial 36ish minutes, with jingle bells on my shoes and headband. My running partner and I said Merry Christmas to nearly every person we passed by.

After a shower, the whole family was off to NorthPark Center, which describes itself as "high fashion and luxury shopping" and lives up to it.  We, however, went in for the wonderful toy train display they have to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House.  I thought it would take 20 minutes tops with the attention span of my children but we were there much longer.  It was fun to see how the display had hidden things like a robot, Superman, a dinosaur, Rudolph the reindeer, and so forth tucked away here and there in places to have the joy of finding.

After we left, the parking was so bad. Like you will never find a parking place in an hour or two bad. I was so glad we were leaving and not coming. 

Later that night we braved the crowds on this last weekend to shop before Christmas with our kids and helped the kids buy gifts for each other and the other parent.  No problem parking at all. No major traffic anything.  I still go nuts helping my daughter buy something for the receiver rather than herself.  Sometimes I'm a bit disgusted by it and other times it makes me laugh on the inside. 

Looking forward to cruising with Oma and Opa tomorrow night to see all the Christmas light displays.  Another reason it's nice to have a minivan.