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.