All Aboard!

The Santa Train in Boulder City was our big adventure last  Saturday morning.

The storm clouds were threatening, but we were lucky to only get a littel drizzle of raindrops here and there.

We went with our friends Joe, Trisha, Benjamin and Abigail, Maridyn and Rook and Isaac. This train ride is a steal of a deal for $2 per ticket, as the price is usually $8 for adults and $4 for kids.  Plus, we had Santa and Mrs. Claus aboard.


Jasper was happy to say hello to Santa but he clung to my coat when Mrs. Claus made her move.

We rode on the Boulder City Line for 3.5 miles and then 3.5 miles back.  Jasper kept looking out the window and saying, "Choo Choo".

I had to pull a couple tricks out of my hat at times because Jasper wanted to run up and down the isles of the train.  A couple of upside down tickles kept him entertained enough to stay near our seats.


The conductor and other train attendants sat down for a visit during the ride.  They let the kids wear their hats and shared interesting train tidbits with us. 
The entire weekend he walked around saying a jibberish sentence that ends in a very clear "choo choo" and then is followed by more jibberish and a very clear, "Ho Ho Ho".  To which we respond, "Yes, Jasper.  You want on a train and Santa came aboard to see you."  He repeats this sentences about 5 times and then moves onto something else.  Let's just say he was really excited about it and can not stop talking about it.
Thank you Southern Nevada Railway for a great event!

There is a free train show across the street put on by the Toy Train Operators Society and a old steam engine called the Eureka that we want to check out next year.

If you want to buy advance tickets next year, they go on sale Oct. 1.  We want to go on Dec. 4th for the 10 AM ride.  I thought it would be fun to all get tickets together, so let me know next September.

D.J. Jazzy Jasper

Mike's office manager (a.k.a. Grandma Sharon) gave Jasper a cute CD player for his birthday this year.

Lately he's been jamming out and really getting down.  He loves to take the CD's in and out and open and close the door.  And his favorite thing to do -- sing along, of course.

Thank you Sharon!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas

I took Jasper to see Santa at the Galleria Mall right before Thanksgiving because I heard there wouldn't be a line.  The rumor was true.  We were in and out in 5 minutes with no screaming.  No complaints for me!

Jasper did really well, except he would not let go of his little orange basketball -- except for the one minute that he let Santa hold it.

A Very Froggy Christmas

We went to a special Froggy Christmas storytime at the Paseo Verde Library last Friday.

We listened to Froggy stories and made a really cute snow globe craft.

To say that Jasper was not excited to see Froggy would be an understatement. 

It's kind of crazy, because he like Santa and he LOVED Frosty the Snowman.  But Froggy was a bust for Jasper.

Our friends Maridyn and Trisha came with their kids Rook, Alexa, Benjamin and Abigail.

One Horse Open Sleigh

This afternoon we headed over the The District at Green Valley Ranch to take advantage of the free carriage rides that they offer in December.

Our horse was Betty and we had a great ride down around The District.  Jasper liked the live music playing and off the fun decorations.  He was looking super cute in his mini Santa suit.

If you want to go, the rides are from 12:00 - 4:00 PM on Saturday until Dec. 19th and the carriage departs near Anthropologie.

Cruisin'

A couple weeks I pulled a brochure for the Disney Dream Cruise Ship out of our Family Fun magazine to show Jasper.

He is now obsessed with it, and reads his brochure at most meals.  Every time he gets in his high chair he asks for his cruise brochure. 

This is his favorite page to look at and talk about -- the AquaDuck waterslide.  It actually seems pretty cool.

It is a high-flume ride that takes you through a translucent, acrylic tube above the ship’s upper decks and over its edge to offer a view of the ocean.  It's like a water rollercoaster -- pretty cool!

Happy Halloween!

I figured I'd better post this before Christmas!

This Halloween we went to Trunk or Treat at our church for the 3rd year in a row.  We joined the Laurel Hills Ward -- so it was fun to see old friends (1/2 of our Ward was taken to create the Laurel Hills Ward a year ago).

Jasper was a race car driver, but we should have just put him in a track suit and had him be a runner, as his favorite thing to do was to run around the church parking lot.

He wore his "silver bullet" shoes and was fast as lightening!  (Jasper affectionately calls them his "bullets".)  He had his cowboy boots on at home ($1 find at a thrift store) but they are 2 sizes too big and he was a bit wobbly so we made him wear the bullets.

Thanks to Josie for helping us keep track of Jasper and rounding him up when necessary.

Jasper was a Bumble Bee when he was 2 months old and last year he was Michael Phelps, and I was his #1 fan.

This is the first year that Jasper has actually trick or treated.  He was one word for the candy -- MINE!

Jasper can't say "Trick or Treat", so we just went with "Please" and "Thank You" when he was given candy.

Jasper thinks that when he gets a piece of candy he should eat it.  He didn't understand the concept of putting the candy in his blue plastic pumpkin.  The whole night Jasper had a piece of candy in his mouth and each fist gripping tightly to a piece of candy in each hand.

By the end of the night he was a chocolatey mess. He even biffed it in the parking lot and black marks all over his WHITE polar fleece race car suit (which were really just some Carter's PJ's that I got for $6.50 at Costco).

We teamed up with our friends the Quandel's and the Scott's for the passing out of candy.  Kim brought her black cat that lights up and plays music.  Jasper loves to play with that cat every time we go to their house, so he was thrilled that Kim brought it.

My award for favorite "non-candy" items goes to Nancy for the glow bracelet (Jasper LOVES those), whoever handed out the little fighter jet and Michelle Tanner for a cup of slushy root beer. Thank you! (Jasper is still loving the fighter jet -- 1 month later).

After Trunk or Treat we knocked on doors in our neighborhood.  The problem is that Jasper wanted to go inside everyone's house and visit and play with their toys - even people we'd never met before.

The full size candy bars at the Gornichec's were a hit -- even though Isaac was super scary!

All in all we had a great night with good friends -- and lots of treats!