Sarah meets Santa

As I said before, this is a very big week for Sarah. She turns 3 on Friday, and she had a great party with friends and family on Saturday. But if you ask her, neither of these rank at the top of her list for the week. She met the closest thing to a superstar in the world of a toddler, Santa Claus! We went up to the Cincinnati Zoo to enjoy their Festival of Lights, a fantastic display of lights, shows, characters, and the great Santa Claus himself. We had a very hectic beginning to the visit (we think everyone in Ohio was there on that day). We were much later getting in than we had hoped, due to the unending traffic. Chris dropped us off to get tickets, and then had to park a half mile away! Amy stood at the gate to hand him his ticket, and Sarah and I headed to our first timed appointment, "The Polar Express 4D experience" We had approximately 20 minutes to find it in the park. It was dark, crowded, and I had to read a map while keeping up with a toddler. Whew! Finally, we found the theater with 10 minutes to spare. The movie was terrific! It was a 15 minute edited version of the Polar Express, complete with smells (hot chocolate), snow literally coming down on your seat, and wind in your face as the train lurched and slid toward the North Pole! Sarah sat in wonder as she watched Santa hand the boy the first gift of Christmas. We had already watched the movie twice this week, but it didn't seem to matter to her. She can't get enough of St. Nick right now!
Next, we moved on to the main event.

We got a quick peek of Santa's reindeer. Check out the expression on Sarah's face. This look was plastered the entire night!

This is the sight she was so overjoyed to see. We told her the reindeer were resting up for their trip back to the North Pole.

We are waiting in line to see Santa Claus. I cannot even get her to take her eyes off of him long enough to snap a photo! This look says it all.

Finally, she focused on me long enough to capture this cheesy smile. She is wired!

Pardon the sound, the little camera didn't know what to do with all of the noise in the background. Just watch her expression and you will see it all.

Here is the finished product. Yes, we paid the unbelievable amount of money for this photo. They would not allow flash photography (I wonder why?), so this is the only documentation of the first meeting. He was a wonderful man who was so sweet and gentle with her (and as an added bonus, his bear was real) She danced to see him and she danced away. He whispered as she was leaving, "she is adorable!" This was the perfect night for our little one!

As an added bonus, Amy took Sarah on the carousel and she was fortunate to find a seat on Marty, I mean the zebra (she is a Madagascar nut!)

Sarah waves in delight.

The park looked so magical at night with the lake and the Christmas tree in the background.

Alas, it is time to go. We had a fantastic night of fun. We will definitely return next year!