Electric Safari

For my birthday, my parents got me a membership to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We get in free and that includes the special holiday light show the zoo puts on for a couple of weeks each year around Christmas. The zoo is lit up with a ton of displays, lots of animal scenes of course, but also a lot of pretty regular lights in all the trees. We knew Connor would love to see it, so we planned to go.

The Electric Safari is at night, of course. It is cold and snowy here and we've never ventured outside for a night excursion before. We bundled Connor up as much as possible. We actually managed to stay for a couple of hours and not freeze. There were a ton of people there, which was to be expected but also made it tough to get around and really enjoy. Connor is lucky he got the best view from Daddy's shoulders:

The zoo thoughtfully placed fire pits all around so that guests could stop and warm up. That was really nice! This lady came over and stuck her behind at the fire right as I snapped this picture. Her friends got a big laugh out of that. :)

My favorite part of the evening was the pony rides. At the end of the night, right before we headed for the exit, they had pony rides for $1. They had a bigger pony for bigger kids and two tiny, really adorable ponies for tiny kids. I just had to have Connor take a ride, so we waited in line. As we got up to the front, I had to move the stroller out of the way and wait on the other side of the corral to take pictures. Connor started to cry and tried running to me, but it was almost his turn so Nick held him and they kept waiting.  Connor kept crying. :( We started to feel really bad when his turn finally came and they brought over his pony. One second Connor was wailing, but the moment his butt was on that pony, he started to laugh. He giggled and was so happy to be on that pony! Nick had to help hold him on, but Connor loved it.

I think we'll get him a pony ride each zoo visit so he can get used to it. We'd love for Connor to get riding lessons one day...

Sleeping angel

All in all, it was a fun outing. We saw a lot of pretty light displays and Connor definitely got a thrill out of the whole thing. I'm not a fan of crowds though and I'm thankful we have a zoo pass to visit any time we want when it's way less crowded! :)

Happy Christmas Eve!! :)