Christmas Adventures 2016- Light shows and Elf hunts

December 17, 2016

Our first year living in Cedar Park for Christmas was pretty exciting! We found so many cute things to do, and loved being back in a neighborhood with all decorated houses/ festivities everywhere!

One night we took early baths, ate dinner, then met up with our neighbors the Golds. We made hot chocolate and popcorn and car pooled to a few local houses with pretty awesome lights!!

The second one we went to made the news! It had several separate 'shows' to see, a toy drive going on, and fake snow that would fall on you every so often! Too cute!! We got out and just hung here for while! So cool and so much to see!

Here is a video of both houses. The first one had a radio station you could tune in to and the house's lights went to music. The second house had music playing (and little 'bands' like 'Elfvis', 'The Krinles', and Olaf)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB3zDG64oTg

And here are some pictures:

Brinkley and LJ!!

And Brinkley and Ellie!! haha!!

Another stage came on! So crazy!

Family shot... with precious Brinkley!!

SNOW!!

Another night, we went to Santa's Jingle House- which is just about 5 minutes from our house, to participate in an 'Elf Hunt' with our friends. It was pretty chaotic but really funny! This little house (that people may or not may live in?!) hides about 36 elves all over the place for children to go find! They provided a list of how many to look for in each room, and then you could list all the ones you found. I had all three kids alone and tally/ writing was not an option for me in the chaos of trying to keep an eye on all kids, but they had fun!!!

We spotted a little grinch right as we walked up. Ellie is having a fear of these types of things and cried as we got close! Poor thing! Other kids were very excited to see him!

Several of our friends from LJ's school and their siblings joined us! So cute!!!

Evan loved spotting them!! (LJ was going to fast for us and stayed with Brinkley a large majority of the hunt time!)

Cute sleigh...

And then they had cookies for everyone... Ellie was so happy!! Haha!

Elf hunting success!!

Love these friends!

And one other favorite tradition that we did this year was the Trail of Lights! The day we had our tickets was one of the most beautiful in December- but literally right as we arrived at the park, a cold front blew in!! BRRRRrrr!! We still had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves, and the hot chocolate tasted that much better!!

Santa and Ms Clause were taking pictures on the way in... Ellie wanted nothing to do with them of course (that blur on the left side of the picture is her running away!)!!

Then right after the entrance, there was a great spot for a photo op!! First we got just our family...

And then we got the whole group we went with- the McDonnells, Romeros, and Trapps! Wow!!

The only one of my clan that wanted to do the Ferris Wheel with me was Evan... so up we went!! Didn't love the older kids that were in the box with us and screaming that they were going to die, but at least their mom offered to take a picture for us! Hah!

Still needed a selfie to with the huge tree in the background though!

Breathtaking view from the top!!

One last shot with Rex and Ren before heading home!! Glad we made it!

Another night, we made a quick visit to the Rock'n Lights Holiday light tour, Christmas towne and carnival. Our luck is unbelievable, and again, as we drove there, a VERY cold cold front blew in! It went from vest weather to freezing so fast! We probably stayed under an hour, but we went fast, saw a lot, and had fun! I loved the small feel of this show, easy access, and great friends we went with! Sang took her older two, Ben and Kate; I took LJ and Evan (Dad's stayed with all younger kids), and Keri brought Brinkley and Beckham!

We knew time was very limited, so we started with a quick light maze (similar to a corn maze but of lights!), walked through the towne, and then found our favorite roller coaster to try! Here are pictures...