The Return of Adventures!! SWEET!!!

Since we moved to Ogden, Heidi Anne has been very hesitant towards the idea of adventures. If given a choice between exploring our new area or staying home, she has been picking home. That is not my normal Heidi Anne. To say the least things have been a little blah for the first time since I was pregnant with her.
Little did I know salvation was on its way, in the form of my friend Valerie. She came back to the area for the Christmas season to visit her family. She has 4 children 3 and under. She is a pro at traveling, adventures, and adventures with kids. She invited us to come along on a trip to the train museum and the Christmas Village.
Oh my gosh! When Heidi Anne heard that we would be going somewhere with Valerie's family she couldn't wait to go. She started to do a count down. That Saturday she just kept asking, "Can we go now?" "Is it time?" Heidi Anne was jumping at the bit so we headed out a little earlier than planned. Just to have her eager to go somewhere was so refreshing! 

Heidi Anne had a ton of fun at the Train Museum, which also had a car museum, gun museum, a mini cowboy museum, and an art gallery. The lobby alone was lovely to look at, so lovely many families were getting family photos done there and someone even had a reception going on too. Heidi Anne LOVED getting Pressed Pennies. Great little keepsakes for adventures and they only cost 51 cents. Take that overpriced gift shop!

After the Train Museum we had sandwiches. Again, Valerie's professional traveler shined though. They already had all the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches put together, some pre cut carrots, water, oranges and apples.  Then we went to the Christmas Village. Which reminded Heidi Anne of the Logan Pumpkin Walk, only it's in Ogden and they are supercute playhouses. You can look inside them and they are all decorated like window shop displays used to be back in the day.  

We got to go on a hayride pulled by two big horses! Heidi Anne went to sit down and promptly jumped back up crying. She just kept whimpering "Pokey!". It took me a few seconds but then it came together, the hay was poking her when she tried to sit. Once she finally picked to sit on my lap she was much happier. Then the horses started to make their way down the street as we all sang Christmas Carols.

One scene will stay with me from that lovely ride. We're all singing songs and having fun when I noticed a young waiter hunched over and slowly walking down the sidewalk. As we got closer I noticed a dark figure hanging onto the corner of his arm. This young waiter was helping an elderly homeless man down the sidewalk as we were singing "Away in a Manger", and I thought "Now that young man is a shinning example of Christmas spirit, he lives it."

Heidi Anne noticed that there were people in some of the buildings and had fun waving to them as we passed by. She said she felt like she was in a parade with people looking down from their HUGE buildings at us. Yes, anything with three or more stories is "HUGE", you can't tell she grew up in a small town, can ya? 

OH How I have MISSED This!!