I took these pics a couple of Saturdays ago; we went to Target for some reason, I haven't a clue why, it escapes me now, but when we drove into the parking lot we noticed the front area of the store was roped off with yellow tape and there were fire trucks and police SUVs all over the place. We thought the worst and drove to the back of the parking lot to listen in on police calls, which can be heard on Michael's Droid cell phone. We didn't plan on going in the store since we didn't have a clue as to what was going on; I thought it might be related to some toxic spill (yes, i'm the overly cautious, and pretty much insane type), and didn't want my girls, or any of us, to breathe in the toxic fumes. But just after thinking that, a police SUV drove by and I saw a woman in the passenger side front seat holding a young toddler on her lap; I then thought there might have been a search for a child going on. I was thinking all kinds of things, as was Michael, when all of a sudden it dawned on Michael that he had heard about a toy drive being held at a Target that weekend. You buy a toy for a child in need, and you get a free ride in either a fire truck or a police SUV. So after having figured this out, and taking our gas masks off, we decided to go in the store and pick out gifts for both a girl and a boy and let our girls experience what it's like to ride in either a fire truck or a police SUV. When we got in line, we were told we could go twice, once in the fire truck and once in the police SUV, but Caitie only wanted to go in the fire truck, so that's what we did. Yikes, is this a long explanation to the three pics below, or what?!?
The sign at the front of the store.
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The girls getting ready to get on the fire truck. We all got to ride in it; it was so cool! ahem... I mean it was a neat experience for the girls.
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I took this pic a few nights later. I wanted to get both girls in their firefighter hats; these were given to them when they rode the fire truck. Caitie loves anything to do with fire trucks.
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Once we were done at Target, we went in search of a Christmas tree. We usually get our Christmas tree at Target, but they no longer have a garden department, so we checked Home Depot, Lowe's and Moon Valley Nursery. We went to the latter and got a really nice tree. It's not as tall as we're used to, but it's full and has a nice shape, etc. Michael talked them down in price a bit, which was nice.
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Now, would you go anywhere else for a Christmas tree? One must have the very best!
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Yes, we're all looking at the Christmas ornament. I took this pic to get our reflection in the ball.
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See? Pretty cool, eh? Bailey looked down just as I was taking this pic. Oh well...
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Caitie looks forward to putting the star atop the tree.
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Voila! And here it is... all decorated with pretty lights, balls, and a pretty star on top.
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And here's the usual 'get my reflection in the ball' pic.
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The next night, a week ago Sunday, we went to see the Zoo Lights. I took a quick pic of my girls in their matching leopard tops before heading out.
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Entering the Zoo...
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I took this pic when we first arrived; we headed straight to the snack area, we wanted some energy food. We spent quite a bit of time munchin' on good food and then before going to view the lights, I had to change a poopy diaper. I wasn't sure how to go about it, but we managed. We used the stroller. Don't ask.
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Caitie getting a close view of a frog. She always yells out when she sees anything to do with frogs; she knows they're my favorite.
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I handed my camera over to Michael to get a pic of Caitie and I on a camel. Caitie always wants to go on a camel ride when visiting the zoo, and she likes for me to go with her. Ever since I told her the camel spits at me due to my added weight, she likes for me to ride the camel with her in hopes she'll see camel spit come flyin' my way. True story, folks. Michael didn't get many shots of us because the battery in my camera went kaput, so we ended up paying for a pic the zoo crew took for us; we should have saved our money, the pic was of poor quality. Michael took this pic; it's blurry due to movement and it being dark.
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After turning my camera off and then back on, it started working again. I was happy and started taking more pics. Here is a pic of an animatronic giraffe. It asked Caitie some questions, but she refused to answer them. She thought it was silly to talk to an animatronic giraffe, which was surprising since she's one of the silliest gals I know; she loves bein' silly.
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And here we are at the carousel. We can't miss the carousel ride, it's tradition. Caitie was wanting to go on a new ride they had called an arctic slide, but it looked a bit dangerous. You get on an inner tube and come down a really high slide, of which you go really fast, and you have to do it alone, no one can get on with you, so I thought it best she skip that ride. But the carousel is always a hit. It was Bailey's first time on a carousel, or a ride of any kind, for that matter. When we first put her on she was fine, but when the music came on and the ride started with a jolt, she began to cry, but that didn't last long, she ended up enjoying it. We all enjoyed the Zoo Lights experience.
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I took this pic last Friday morning when I picked Caitie up from school; I take most of her 'school event pics' in this same spot; it's near the front of the school by the parking lot. There's a creek with ducks and grassy slopes; it's very nice. Anyway, Caitie's class had a winter party. They all wore pajamas and went 'ice skating' in their socks; they slid around on wax paper. Cute idea. They also had yummy snacks and watched a Christmas show. They each received a Christmas stocking filled with candy canes, a penguin straw, and something else, but I don't remember what now. She took two Christmas popcorn tins along with Christmas cards with cash to her two teachers, of which they gave her a Christmas thank you note in return. They were released early that day, but they managed to do a lot in an hour and a half. It was a nice send-off to Christmas break.
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There are more 'Christmas pics' coming from our trip up to Williams on Sunday and Monday, so stay tuned for those...
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