nothing says christmas like garlic

This past saturday evening I took the girls to meet an old high school pal and her family to a local little kiddie amusement park that opens on weekends around christmas. The girls were actually excited to pose for pictures in front of "candy cane lane" but they still found people watching more compelling than looking my way while I took the photos. And yeah, it's been really, uncharacteristically, cold here. The hats and gloves were necessary.



They had a snow maker over one walkway:




Then we met my friends and the kids posed for pics in the sleigh they had set up:

That's my friend's son, Ian, who is only about 3 months younger than Erin. They got along famously, even holding hands and walking together for much of the evening and sitting next to each other at dinner. But as you can see, Erin has clearly reached that stage where goofy faces that ruin photos is the biggest, greatest form of fun EVER.

We did see Santa at one point but it was just too cold to consider standing still in a long line to wait to see him up close and personal-like. But we did get to visit with the most important christmas celebrities that the outing offered...Santa-ish Snoopy and Giant Yuleltide Garlic!