Leavenworth!

The weekend before Christmas we went to Leavenworth! I really wanted for the kiddos to see the lights on Temple Square at Christmas time, but I new that wasn't going to happen this year. So I came up with the next best little getaway, LEAVENWORTH!! We drove up on Friday, spent the night in Wenatchee and then met up with my parents on Saturday in Leavenworth!

I had looked up online that Friday they would have Kris Kringle at the main gazebo so we looked in the shops, got some chocolates and then waited in the freezing for "Santa" to show up.

This is us waiting in the freezing cold listening to a "not up to par" middle school choir sing some Christmas songs. They were actually comical at one point, oh well, they were trying!


Still waiting!

just some shots of the shops while we waited!

And then this guy showed up and immediately Cambree burst into tears and buried her head into my shoulder. First she was mad that he wasn't wearing a red suit and second there was NO WAY I was going to get her to even look at this guy. She hadn't talked to Santa all season and I REALLY wanted her to at least get a chance to tell him what she wanted. But from her reaction I knew that even if he did have a red suit on she still wouldn't have said a word to the big jolly man!

He gave the kids some oranges and this was the very blurry picture we got of me holding Cambree trying to get her to at least say hi...but she just buried her head in my shoulder whimpering. And Bridger was SOUND ASLEEP in the stroller...yeah didn't go as planned. oh well!

To get warm we hit up the hat shop! I think these pictures are pretty self explanatory!

Cambree somehow talked her parents into getting this one for her!

By this point we were all super hungry and all Cambree could think about was swimming at the hotel so we headed back to Wenatchee for dinner and to check into the hotel!

This was missy moo about two seconds out of our parking spot! HA!

Cambree was super excited to have her own queen size bed at the Hotel. She laid back and sighed a long tired sigh and said, "I'm just gonna relax!"

Uncle Taylor joined us for swimming! Cambree LOVES her uncles, so she was pretty darn happy with Uncle Taylor and Swimming, probably two of her favorite things! Bridger had fun in the pool too! minus the two times he ended up barfing up dinner because he swallowed some water and started coughing (although, i will say he had mac and cheese for dinner and he loves that stuff. so he ended up eating the entire bowl and I think he had too much in his belly to begin with)! He also really really liked the hot tub...but I wouldn't let him sit in it because it was just too hot for the little man, and he was oh so mad at me. So then we would take him back to the pool and he would shiver like a crazy person, and he just really really wanted the hot tub. silly boy!

Yep I let Cambree jump on the bed! and she had a whole lotta fun!

Then we decided to have daddy throw her on the bed while I snapped pictures! SHHHH don't tell the hotel! I don't think she weighs enough to break any bed!

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and sorta just played in Wenatchee for little while waiting for my parents to come to head back to Leavenworth.

The week before this trip Cambree had found some of my scrapbooking rhinestones and wanted them for stick on earrings. So everyday we put on a pair of little rhinestones earrings. All was cute and good UNTIL one fell off. Then a HUGE meltdown occurred until we found the dang thing or I just put another one on. She even FREAKED OUT right before we went swimming because her earrings were going to fall off. Holy cow it was seriously getting out of control how many times I would have to calm down a half hour meltdown because the earring fell off. I told David I would totally just take her in to get her ears pierced so I never had to deal with the tantrums again. He actually agreed with me and so on Saturday we took her to get some permanent rhinestones!!!!

She was pretty excited and happy about it! Until...

They did the first one. Then she wanted nothing to do with it. (this is when I wished they had two people and could just do them both at the same time) But we got her calmed enough for me to hold her down to just get the other one in...and then she didn't even cry after the second and said, "oh that didn't even hurt" and gave her little nervous giggle. Silly Girl! And it has been HEAVEN ever since. no more meltdowns and we have one very happy little girl again!

When we left the store Cambree saw the "red suit" Santa and was actually pretty excited about seeing him. So we asked if we could just talk to him and not get a picture. they said we could but the closer we got to him the harder Cambree held onto me and the whimpers began! She wouldn't sit on his lap. but she did tell him she wanted "paint polish" for Christmas and then gave him a high five! Oh and she showed him her pretty earrings she just got!

We got to Leaven worth and it was PACKED!! So packed that we wished we didn't have a stroller and that we had remembered to take our carrier. It was the lighting ceremony that evening so there were a million people there. We still had fun but it was a little frustrating that we couldn't go in any shops with the stroller and Cambree was a little bit too tired. Also it was raining/snowing all day. So we were all a bit cold and wet right before the ceremony was suppose to happen. We figured we would have enough time to run to the car and change and then get back. Well little did we know the lighting ceremony was just a two minute thing and we missed it...I think I was too cold and tired to really care that much! We walked around waiting for the lantern parade that led us to a live Nativity and a little program.

The program was about a half hour and was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. I didn't care that we didn't get the Santa picture I had hoped for, I didn't care that we missed the lighting ceremony, I didn't care that we were freezing and that Cambree had three too many meltdowns that day, I didn't care that it was crowded and we could hardly maneuver our stroller. This is what Christmas was all about and I was there with my little family and we were making memories. That's all that really mattered! so on that high note after the program we got some hot chocolate/cider and some cookies and headed home! It really was a fun little family getaway, and in the end it helped us all remember that Christmas was about our Savior and his birth and his life and not about Santa and all the toys!