A Busy, Fun-Filled Weekend.....

Friday evening, we drove to Toledo for one of our annual Christmas traditions: The Lights Before Christmas at the zoo! This year, we were joined by David and Larisa's family, which made it even more fun. Afterward, we headed north to Detroit, where we spent the night and visited the Henry Ford Museum the next day. Then, it was back home in time to go out to eat on Saturday evening with some special friends. On Sunday, we went to the church where I grew up to visit family, and then drove north again to have dinner and spend the evening with a dear family that we met at the training for the New Horizons hosting program. Whew! Here are a few photos from our busy weekend:

8 little cuties:

Adrian and Jalen:

Mimi and Mr. Y:

And that 'stinkin cute Mr. S:

This tree is taller and has more lights than the tree in Rockefeller Center in New York City. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the thing is huge!

At the hotel, we ordered a couple of pizzas. At 2 feet across, they were the most mammoth pizzas I have ever seen! 

Pool time!

Playing house:

The museum had a really cool Lego exhibit, featuring famous building from all over the world:

And then the kids got to build their own Lego buildings to add to the museum's Lego city:

 The big, bad mama bear came out in me when we visited the museum's Civil Rights area. I simply cannot fathom how people could ever mistreat others simply because of the color of their skin. It just blows my mind to think that there was a day when my 6 children would not have been able to eat at a restaurant together, go to the same school, or use the same drinking fountain. And this all happened not that long ago!  The following segregation laws were in place in the southern states - I bristle at the use of the word race below. There is only one race - the human race!

We also got to sit on the bus in which Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat. 

 This is the theater chair in which President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot:

A gorgeous Christmas tree:

And 2 little cuties:

 We watched an IMax movie about the Rocky Mountain Express and then climbed up in this massive old steam engine:

And that's all for now! See you again soon!