Lights, glasses, weather forecasters

We've had mounting requests for a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights. Apparently the kids enjoyed last year's visit, the gingerbread cookies they scarfed down and were looking forward to a return trip.

In preparation, we'd been watching the weather forecasts hoping to catch a day when the weather wasn't expected to be too cool on a weeknight when we didn't already have something on our agenda.

We hit the jackpot during our visit tonight. The weather was beautiful and unseasonably warm with jackets and hats keeping light lookers more than warm enough, and plenty of peacocks roaming around for Alivia's pleasure.

Speaking of weather ... we couldn't miss the local NBC news van parked right inside the zoo's entrance, with the station's evening weather forecaster nearby. Valerie Abati might as well be Angelina Jolie in our house. Actually, she would be more recognizable to our home's little viewers, and they were quite thrilled to have run into her.

During our visit, we also stopped by the zoo's 4-D Special FX Theater to watch the shortened Polar Express movie in 4-D. Special glasses were needed for the movie's special effects.

Although the movie is relatively short, Trace sat captivated during the whole adventure. We still believe he sat from beginning to end without taking a single breath. It was pretty cool.

Completing our visit were holiday-themed costumed characters sprinkled throughout the zoo and rides on the carousel and train.



A beautiful night!