Crossing Items Off The Bucket List

Each season of the year we have a “bucket list” of things we’d like to do as a family. Some of them are as simple as watching the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. Others are more involved. This year as we entered the last week of winter break I realized we had quite a few things we had not done, and for some of them, it was our last chance!

The first was zoo lights. We’ve been zoo members since Elias was 6 months old and we’ve been to zoo lights every year at least once. I think our record attendance was five times in one season. This year we were in danger of not making it! Wednesday evening after Nathan got home from work we bundled up and headed out to the zoo. We decided to head for the train first since we did not want to wait in line. We walked right on! We got to sit in the monkey car, which Caleb thought was wonderful. No one even got too cold!

After the train and a lot of light viewing, we allowed a treat of elephant ears. Everyone was very excited.

Finally, we made it through the Africa section and the light tunnel. Caleb loved the trees wrapped in lights, and kept forcing me to stop and take pictures of them. “They’re so beautiful!” he kept saying. And they were!

When we got home it was late and close to bed time so instead of a real dinner I informed the boys we’d be having heavy snacks. (Apples and peanut butter, crackers and cheese, etc). You’d think it was the best day of their lives. I’m glad such simple things make them happy.

Another thing that has been left unchecked on our bucket list for years has been ice skating. Luckily this year, my mom was motivated to go as well and so we got a date on the calendar. Caleb stayed with Baba, but Elias, Simon, my mom and I all went ice skating. It was both Elias and Simon’s first time ever. Elias absolutely loved it. Simon was not a fan. Elias fell so many times that his pants were soaked through, but he didn’t let it stop him. I think he would have stayed for hours if he could have. As it was, we stayed for about an hour and twenty minutes.

Finally, I had been wanting to see the King Tut exhibit at OMSI, but we didn’t think all of the kids would be old enough to be interested yet. Yesterday, I took Elias for a little Mommy-son date to see the exhibit. Elias was excited by the idea of the audio guide, and enjoyed the exhibit for about 45 minutes before feeling like he was tired of walking around reading  signs and looking at stuff. The exhibit was amazing!