Denver Zoo Lights

As a child, my parents started a tradition that around Christmastime, we would all head down to The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch and then go look at various Christmas displays downtown in St. Louis. I have very fond memories of these times and want to create similar traditions and special memories for our boys. So, in an attempt to begin new traditions, we headed down to Denver on Saturday. The Denver Zoo has a pretty large Christmas light display and we wanted to surprise the boys with this new Black Family Tradition.

We first headed to Denver in order to grab an early dinner. Lesson #1 learned for next year... make reservations, even if you are going to eat "dinner" at 4:00 in the afternoon. After our third restaurant which was full and had no tables open until 9:30, 2 bus rides, and walking up and down the streets of Denver for about 30 minutes, we landed (much to my memories delight) at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We waited for about 45 minutes and then ate before we headed to the Zoo.

Lesson #2 learned for next year... get directions to the Zoo from the place we are eating (which we will know since we will have reservations next year, learned in lesson #1). We drove around for about 45 minutes, and stopped twice to get directions, before we finally made it to the Zoo.

Lesson #3 learned for next year... order tickets to Zoo Lights online. Once we arrived at the Zoo, Vince waited in line for about 30 minutes to buy tickets. By this time, it was 8:15. If you know us, you know our boys are typically in bed by 7:00... so this was a stretch for everyone... but it was well worth it!

Ezra and Asher in front of a Christmas light peacock.
Ezra with his snazzy glow-stick, given to him by a man pedaling rickshaw in downtown Denver.
Obed enjoyed the lights... as seen through his hat.
My honey and me.
The boys and mommy.
A light monkey swinging through the trees... getting ready to steal the fuzzy ball hat off Vince's head.
Ezra and Daddy walking through one of the light tunnels.
It all got to be a bit much for Obed and Solomon at the Zoo... they cashed out part way through the walk through.
Ezra followed suit on the drive home. We didn't get home until after 10:00... but it was well worth it and a great time was had by all. I'm thankful for new traditions!