Festival of Lights

 

To start off the Holiday Season this year, we decided to invite the family to the "Festival of Lights" at the Mission Inn in Riverside. I don't ever remember going to see all of the lights, just passed by once, so I was excited. Grandma and Grandpa Nielson were in town from Utah and we were glad to have them join us

This was our first view while getting out of the car, so many lights!.

 

 We made our way into the shops area were we took some pictures and every body decided we needed kettle corn and caramel pop corn.

 Odin LOVES his uncle "Miko"

Ridge is such a happy baby! Can't believe how big he is getting. He was a happy camper the entire time.

 I love to see Mike and his dad together. They can't  seem to agree on anything but at the same time they're inseperable.

 

This is my sister-in-law Katie. She was able to make it out there with us with her two little boys. I look up to her so much as a mommy. She has two great boys. I love her parenting skills and hope to have her patience and energy when I become a mommy. I'm amazed at how sweet Odin can be and love when he kneels down to pray, folds his arms and closes his eyes. And I know that all happens because he has a great mommy who teaches him to be kind, sweet, and all of his colors and letters. Thanks for your great example Katie! 

 This was in front of the Mission Inn. They really out do themselves. The place was all lit up. I think Mike said there was over 4 million lights.

 Odin was so amazed at all the lights.

 Inside the Mission Inn was their Hotel and Restaurant. It was all beautifully decorated. I wish I had a fire place like this at home!

 Odin and his very, very, very beloved grandma.

 After checking out the inside of the Mission Inn we decided to finish walking all the way around.

 When we went around to the front Odin spotted the "horsies" so we followed them around the block. I thought it'd be cool to ride a carriage so I went and asked for the price, to my surprise it was a lot less than what I had thought so I had to get a carriage for Odin to "ride" the horsy. He was SO excited.

 Can you tell how excited he was? He was jumping up and down with a huge smile on his face :D

We were all excited

  All of us fit inside the carriage but in order to be more comfortable the driver asked if someone wanted to go in the front, so I volunteered as tribute.

 It was really fun riding in the front, these horses are really well trained I couldn't believe it. It's hard enough to train a dog let alone a horse.

 

It was a better view looking at the lights from the carriage than walking, specially from up high and in the co-pilot seat. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to do that, I'm pretty sure it was my first time ever on a carriage. 

 There were about 10 carriages that day. The guy said that since we had gone on a Monday it was a nice day and not too crowded. He said on the weekend they had close to 24 horses and the place is packed! It was just meant to be a perfect day I guess :)

 

 Love this face!

 

After looking at all of the lights we decided to go to dinner and finish off a great night. It was so fun to visit the Mission Inn. I think this is going to have to be a family tradition.