Last night at Temple Square

We went to Temple Square last night to see the lights and other displays. Here are a few things that happened.

We went to the visitor's center to see the Christus and other paintings. As we were looking at the paintings, Anna was begging to ride the escalator. I was a little annoyed, because while the displays downstairs are worth looking at, they are not "Christmasy." We can do those another time, right? But, no. Anna would not relent. We had to ride the escalator. We got over to them, with much difficulty because of the crowds, and Anna stood at the top, trying to get on and giggling to herself. The same thing happened with Tyler. Emma got on fine, but the other kids were holding up the line. It was a very "Elf" moment. (Have you seen that movie?) Anyway, some people were annoyed at them, most were laughing at them. And Josh turned to me and said, "It's like they've never been on one before." I started thinking about it. Anna might not remember the last time she rode and escalator. We take strollers with us everywhere and end up riding the elevators. My kids experienced something very new last night. When asked if they would rather go to Disneyland or ride an escalator, Tyler requested the latter. I think he was kidding.

When we went up to the Christus, there were probably 7000 people trying to see it. (That might be a slight exaggeration.) I thought, "Do we really want to do this?" We can see it through the windows outside, and it's still a pretty neat experience. But we got up there, and the kids went up close, sneaking through people's legs. Josh took Sophie up close to see the statue. Since she was the only one I could see through the crowd (since Josh was holding her) she is the one I watched. When I saw her face looking up at the Christus, and her little finger pointing at its face, it was as if everyone there melted away, and it was just my little girl with her dad having a very special moment.

We got to go on a tour of the conference center, and we saw a cardboard cutout of Princess Leia on the stage in the auditorium. Josh said that they also had Obi Wan and Captain Kirk the night before. ???

That's all. We had fun.

100th post and Thanksgiving Point

Well, first of all, this is my 100th post. I know. It's taken me 2 years to get here. But, take what you can get.

Last night we took advantage of our Thanksgiving Point membership and went to a free night for members at the lights. They had live reindeer to see and pet, and then we went through the lights.

As we were in line waiting to show them our card, Ryan looked out his window and saw this:

He started laughing hysterically. It was the deepest, loudest belly laugh you've ever heard. If he hadn't been buckled in his seat, he would have fallen out. He wouldn't stop laughing. It took us a few minutes to figure out what was so funny. But his laugh was so contagious that we all started laughing hysterically. That was the last thing we would drive under, but with the way it is set up, we could see it throughout the drive. Ryan would get excited about all the other lights and we would ooh and aah, and then we'd turn a corner and see this giant Santa again. And then out came the deep belly laugh again. I think we were all crying by the end. We ended up going through again, because the kids didn't have enough the first time around. It's impossible to describe exactly how Ryan reacted, but I had to write it down so we wouldn't forget the event. It kind-of reminded me of when we went to the circus when Michael was 4 years old and he laughed so hard he fell out of his seat several times and then wet his pants. Ryan has a little more control. As soon as we were out of the lights the second time, Ryan calmed down immediately and said, "Mom, can I take a little nap now?" He completely wore himself out.