Santa

We took the kids last night to go and visit Santa! They have been begging us for a couple weeks now. Seth figured out that yesterday marked 2 weeks until Christmas and said "we better go see Santa soon." I had a great idea to take the kids to Midtown Plaza in downtown Rochester. This is the last year they will be there, because it's being torn down to build offices. It's a sad day for me. Mike thinks I'm crazy, it's not like I frequent the mall or anything, I just know it's a big part of Rochester's history. My mom used to go there when she was a kid, and so did Mike. I sang with my high school girls chorus in 9th grade near the Christmas tree. So I thought it would be fun to take the kids to see it before it's gone. So when McKee got off the bus yesterday at 4:00, we loaded up in the van and took off to downtown. The kids were so excited that we got to park in the underground parking garage, and then ride the elevators up to the mall. When we got there we spotted the HUGE Christmas tree, and the monorail. All 3 of them were so excited to ride it. We were lucky because just as we were walking up to get in line the lady made her last call for the day for rides. The kids had a blast! McKee thought it was a little slow, but he still enjoyed it. The only bummer was, Santa wasn't there! He was at a different place I guess. They have really strange hours down there, probably because there really aren't any big attractions to draw people in, so they close at 6pm. Santa only visits that mall until 2pm. So we got some fun family pics with the Christmas decorations, and then we headed over to Greece Ridge Mall to see if Santa was over there! Sure enough he was. We waited in line to see him, and a team mate of Seth's from soccer last year was in line in front of us. Finally it was our turn. I had been talking to the kids for a couple weeks getting them ready to talk to Santa. They are allowed to ask Santa for one present. So all of them stood around him, I was holding Tyler and one by one Santa asked them how old they were and what they wanted for Christmas. McKee asked for a Venom web shooter, without the mask (I told him that Santa knows not to bring toys that Moms don't like) Seth asked for a Spider man Web Blaster, and Brooke asked for a bean bag chair. Tyler asked for something to chew on! :) After the kids were done talking to Santa, Brooke and Tyler sat on his lap and Seth and McKee stood next to him for a photo. Tyler wasn't quite sure if he liked it, but Brooke loved it! When we were walking out of the mall I asked the kids if they had a good time and the boys said yes. Brooke looked a little bit sad and said "Santa didn't give me a bean bag." It was so precious. I guess we didn't explain the part about the presents coming on Christmas morning! I found a video on Youtube about Midtown if you have 5 minutes to view it, it's really interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DLtG2CfAwMGE Enjoy our pictures!