Winter Wonderland

A few weeks back we decided to hop on a train and head to London to enjoy Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.  The girls were pretty excited :)

On our way to the park, we got to see the part of the changing of the guards.  An unexpected, but great start to the day!

This way to all the fun!

Our first stop was to watch everyone ice skate.  Something about it just seems so magical, ice skating in the park.  

We knew there would be rides and had even booked a few things in advance, but we definitely did not expect how huge it all would be!  It was incredible!

 

The girls did have to stop and have a photo op with all the little statues around the park.

We went on quite a few rides.

My sweet carousel girl, can never pass one up!

Big Miss decided she wanted to go through the fun house with Daddy.

She even drove him crazy on the bumper cars.

There was even a Christmas tree maze!

The last treat of the day was a ride on the Big Wheel.  You don't realize quite how large it is until you are right under it.  Even I got a little nervous.

But what a view!

As the sun went down, all the lights became much brighter.  They were absolutely beautiful.

As we headed back home, it was neat to walk through London during the holidays.  Again, it's all just so beautiful and a bit magical.

What an amazing day!

Christmas Fun

We have been enjoying all the Christmas fun we can this year!  And we have been having a LOT of fun!

It all started with the village tree lighting.

We even got to see real reindeer there!

And of course we had to have some scrumptious mini donuts, they are so addicting.

Eventually it was time to turn on the lights and it was beautiful, even if it did start raining on us.

Next up was writing letters to Santa.  We weren't sure if we were going to see the big guy, so we needed to make sure that he knew what the girls wanted.

The girls' school does a Christingle service at the village church and it was so neat to participate in our first one.  The service itself is beautiful and the kids sang all sorts of carols.

The next day was our village Christmas party.  The girls got to play with some of the other kids that live nearby while they did crafts, played games, got their faces painted, and even got a present from Santa!

Then came the Christmas parade.  The girls were so excited to be walking in their very first parade!  

After the parade there was even an opportunity to see Santa!  Our first year with all smiles.

The following week was the girls' Christmas performance.  The younger class made up the nativity, with our little girl being Mary.  The older kids made up the choir.  It was a really cute show.

This past weekend, Zach's unit put on a Bowling with Santa event.  The girls got to see Santa, again!

Even Daddy had to get a picture!

And of course, there was lots of bowling.

 

Told 'ya we've been having lots of fun!

Christmas Market

A few weeks back we managed to take a day trip out to our first Christmas Market.  Markets are a huge thing over here, especially the German ones on the continent (which I hope to get to while we are here!).  I was able to find a German market not too far from home, and then we were off!

It was a particularly cold/windy day, so we were all bundled up!

Going in to it, I had no idea what to expect.  Everything was beautiful and festive!  There were a lot of stalls with all sorts of things for sale.  

After a quick bite to eat, it was time to do a few rides.

  We rode on the giant wheel and the carousel.

Big girl even got to sit in Santa's chair.

Overall it was a fun day!  It was great to experience a local market and now I'm even more excited about doing one of the larger markets in Germany or Spain!

Halloween

Halloween here is a bit different than back home.  It's just not as big of a holiday.  Some villages will have trick or treating, but most don't.  You would see a few decorations up, but not much.

The girls were very thankful for all the goodies that got sent to them!  Thanks family!

We decided to keep the costumes simple this year, so princesses it was!  Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel to be exact.

The girls were invited to a birthday party that afternoon and had lots of fun.  Then we headed to base for some Trunk or Treating.  We went with friends and everyone had such a great time!