Lights

Friday evening we headed to downtown Denver to see the Parade of Lights. We met Aaron at a local pub. He had an afterwork meeting there, so that's where we met him. The kids and I drove around for about 15 minutes before we found a parking spot three blocks from the pub. We had to walk through snow and cold to get there, but we made it and found Daddy. (Note to self: Never agree to meet at a pub after 5 pm on a Friday evening.)

Once we found Aaron (upstairs in the most difficult place to find with a squirmy toddler) we decided to go next door for some dinner. We went to a little place that has a very limited menu. Actually it's a wine bar (must remember this place the next time us parents get an evening off). This is when it's a good thing that our kids are not picky eaters. They ended up having the apples and cheese plate with bread. They both loved it and found it to be the perfect treat. Aaron and I had salads.

After dinner we grabbed our stroller, blankets, hats, and mittens from the car. Then we walked to the train station (about 4 blocks), bought our tickets and boarded the train for 16th and California. Once we reached our destination we hit the coffee shop for hot drinks and cookies. After getting our warm drinks, we walked around town a bit. We had about an hour before the parade was to start. We went through an art gallery and walked through the street lights.

At 8 pm we found our spot along the parade route to watch all the lights. Caleb was asleep by this point and slept through the first 15 minutes of the parade. Once the bands started though, he couldn't sleep anymore. The parade was very cool. Each float had lights all over it. Even the band memebers had lights on them. The parade lasted an hour and we all had a great time. Caleb did not like the giant balloons and loved the bands. Campbell loved it all. It was a great time for the entire family. We were all a little cold but we had a great time.

After the parade we headed back to the train station only to discover that it was running at that stop due to the parade. We would have to wait an hour for that stop to open. We decided to just walk to the next stop. The city was obviously prepared for this event and had the entire train station crowd system working in top form. We had purchased round trip tickets earlier so we did not have to stand in that crazy long line. Having the stroller also came in handy. We got to go through the handycapped/stroller line. We were able to get directly on the train with no waiting. Getting off the train at our stop was a little more difficult just because the train was packed. But we made it and we headed to our cars to load up and go home.

Caleb talked about the parade the entire way home. Campbell rode with Daddy and he said that she was quiet the whole way home. Both kids were exhausted. Campbell gets quiet or giggly when tired. Caleb talks a mile a minute when he is tired. If you want to know how many words he has in his vocabulary just get him overtired.