Buddy and Sarah may be really small when compared to us, but I bet today they felt like giants looking down on the in-progress LEGO bookshop! The bookshop has lots of little details to explore. Christopher and I are having lots of fun putting it together. One of the minifigs was staring right back.

Today’s Jurassic Advent Calendar surprise was this little worker:

The LEGO City Advent Calendar had my favorite surprise yet. The first minifig!

This little guy is ready to send his letter to Santa. I wonder if Santa’s gotten my letter yet.

🎄 Snail Interlude 🎄

He fell asleep with his head on his friend’s shell…

✨🐘🎄 Zoo Lights 🎄🐘✨

Today we had an awesome treat. The three of us went together to experience Zoo Lights at Zoo Miami. It was a first for all of us, and a very romantic night that brought memories of our Tampa trip of a year ago –the first truly romantic trip together.

The first stop was to get hot chocolate and some treats. Our partner got two hot chocolates, one for me and one for him. Christopher had some of mine. He also treated me to a really good rice krispie treat which I also shared with Christopher.

We got those magic glasses that had things wherever there is colored light. We had zebra, giraffe and elephant glasses. They were very trippy. I think the elephant glasses were the best.

I brought Igloo with me, and had my snail Christmas sweater on, since it was an ugly sweater themed night. The zoo hosts themed nights throughout the many nights of Zoo Lights.

There were magical looking animals all lit up throughout the zoo…

By far the most special thing was getting to see the bears. I guess because it was nighttime, and less busy people-wise, a lot of the animals were out –either from curiosity, or because they were nocturnal.

I was able to get merely a foot away from a bear, separated by glass of course, and I don’t know why, but this had such an effect on me. I’d never been able to see a brown bear so close, and when it locked eyes with me for a few seconds, it made me cry. I was so happy about that brief connection.

Speaking of animal connections –the second best was an american crocodile. There was a large tube going through the water enclosure, and the crocodile was laying on top of the tube. So if you went through the tube, you could see its belly, and put your hand right up against it, and feel the rumble of its tail sliding through it.

That on its own was awesome, but the gator then slid down to the floor, and snapped right at my face, looking at me as it did so. Its teeth clicked against the glass!! I almost lost my mind from excitement, and screamed “HOLY SHIT” completely forgetting that I was surrounded by elementary school aged children, several of whom began yelling “Did you hear that?! WHO SAID THAT?! SOMEONE SAID A BAD WORD!!” but no one seemed to realize it was me. Lol.

Anyway, everywhere there were pretty light displays. Here are some:

I particularly loved this Pridey tree:

Right past the bamboo forest (an experience on a normal day) they’d decorated everything with giant glowing starfish, jellyfish, and urchins. It was incredible!

Here’s some video:

Here’s some photos I took of Igloo. I enjoyed carrying her around.

There were many photo spots, here’s Christopher and I on one of them:

I took this photo at the restaurant we were originally going to have dinner at, but it was SO expensive! We actually had to go somewhere else.

In the end we went to a very traditional Japanese restaurant that had amazing food. I got to try plum wine there and we even bought an extra bottle for tomorrow’s party. I can’t wait for that! It’s turning out to be a really fun month in spite of some stress.