Ben's Special Outing

Derek and I took Ben to Santa's Village and the Galaxy of Lights.  It was a special outing.  The babies stayed at home with some of our family who was in town for Christmas.  We try to find opportunities to take Ben on special outings such as this so we can give him special one-on-one attention.  It's hard to go from an only child to suddenly sharing attention with 3 other siblings who can be very demanding of our time.  He has been such a trooper sharing his parents with the babies.

In Santa's Sleigh

Ben loves Christmas time and Santa.  We have watched the Polar Express for months now.  We surprised him by taking him to Santa's Village first.  There he was able to visit Santa's workshop, sit in Santa's sleigh, see real reindeer, write a letter to Santa, make an ornament and visit Santa and Mrs. Claus.  He gave Mrs. Claus a hug and she pulled out a book to give him.  She said, she only does that for the ones that give her a hug.

Thinking about sitting with Mrs. Claus...

Hugging Mrs. Claus

Giving Frosty a high five

We stood in line for almost an hour to see Santa for the second time this Christmas.  The day before, Ben decided he no longer wanted a blue bike for Christmas, but a blue race car instead.  I was sure he was going to tell Santa this when he saw him.  Fortunately, when he got in Santa's lap he confirmed that he still wanted a blue bike. Whew! That was a close one.  The last thing I wanted was a disappointed little boy on Christmas morning.

Writing a letter to Santa

He had an amazing time at Santa's Village.  He can't wait to go again next year and take his brothers with him.  Next, we were off to the Galaxy of Lights.  It is a huge Christmas light display that you drive through.  It had 180 light displays.  Ben loved seeing all the different animals and characters.  It was a wonderful night full of great memories.