Zoo Lights 2013

Every year we try to make our way to the Oregon Zoo for their ZooLights display.  Being slightly crowd-phobic (or more like, we're phobic of trying to keep track of all our kids when there's so many people around), we try to pick the "best" day and time so that we go on the least popular time.  Sometimes it doesn't work out: bad weather, misjudged timing, sick kids.  Let's see how this year turned out....

In November, when planning my holiday season, we picked Thursday December 12th as the "best" day.  Little did we know that the first 2 weeks of December would be freezing!!  Finally, a thaw was in view...but so was freezing rain, anticipated for the very day we had planned for our trip.  So we held off until, at 4pm, we determined that YES we would be heading out.

First stop, dinner at Noodles & Co.  We had 5
free meals (that we "won" at the school auction)
which brought our grand total to $13!!

That $13 included a small pop for everyone, and
that's a special treat!!  (cool machine!)

We made it to the zoo around 7pm, which was just when the
crowds were leaving.  Can you see our FRONT ROW parking
spot?  Amazing for this zoo, which is always full!!!

The weather was just slightly drizzly, and it felt WARM
after all that 20 degree weather we had.

Such a magical time for all the kids, especially Seds.

He walked almost the whole way, until the
very end when he got cold and wanted to be
tucked in. (And of course, the walk back to
the parking lot is uphill.  Mama got her workout.)

 As you can see, this was a very successful ZooLights trip!  The roads were clear until we got home, where it was fun to do some ice-skating on our driveway.  The weather was a near perfect as you can get in December, and the meal beforehand was fab!  I sure hope we can mimic it for next year....