Mr Santa Claus

While in Savannah over the Thanksgiving weekend, Grammy wanted to take Luke to see Santa Claus.  Bass Pro Shop has a great Santa, plus there are other neat things to entertain little ones there.  We wanted Luke to be excited, so we talked the visit up on the ride over.  He always refers to the jolly guy as Mr Santa Claus and prepared by singing his favorite song about him.

Hugging Santa

Hey Dad!  Can I have this?

Operating the Train

Coloring takes concentration

Taking time to smell the flowers

Riding the train with Grammy - but sitting in his own seat

A Day at Zoo Atlanta

Damien and Lisa : )

"Why did Luke sit on the egg?  'Cause he didn't have a chair!"

"Hi, Mr Gorilla!"

"I touched him!"

Looking at the tiger

Touching the Red Boa (I think)

Yay!  A baby elephant

ROAR!

Luke heard me mention the zoo last week, and everyday since, he has said "I want to go the the zoo, Mommy".  We started a countdown: we can go the the zoo in 5 days, 4 days, 3 days, 2 days, tomorrow (and yes, Damien is probably sick of hearing me sing "Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow and we can stay all day!")  
Luke told us he wanted to see the elephants, monkeys, gorillas, lions and pandas.  He was not disappointed.  It was loads of fun and we were able to see most of the exhibits pretty well.  After looking at each animal for a while, he would ask to touch it.  And although I'm sure he thought he'd want to touch the rhino, I'm glad that the only touching option was the snake! 
 

 

Trick or Treat!

So excited!

Checking out all the costumes

Talking to Kiki the Clown

Colby and Luke ready to roll

Official first house of Trick or Treating

He immediately recognized Darth Vader, but this was  close enough

Luke couldn't stop talking about Princess Leia

Checking out the loot

We went to Kristin and Chad's house for a Halloween cookout.  The kids went trick-or-treating afterwards.
Kids these days have it made:  they rode in the wagons from house to house, then hopped out to collect their candy.  It was a great neighbor for trick-or-treating and Luke really enjoyed it!

Our little engineer

Luke really enjoys trains, so we thought that the perfect Halloween costume would be a train engineer.  We took Luke to the caboose in nearby Acworth for a little photo shoot.  He loved it!! 

Anna's birthday

We celebrated Anna's birthday early.  It was the first time we saw Anna and Josh since they got back from China.  They gave the boys Chinese yo-yos and gave Luke a set of balls for part of his birthday present.  The boys had a lot of fun playing with their new toys.   

Rachel's Birthday

We went to Kentucky Dam Lake State Park to celebrate Rachel's 95th birthday.  We had a really good time visiting with all the aunts and uncles and cousins and just relaxing.  The weather was perfect for cooking out and walking around the park.