The Day My Family Came to Town...

So my family graciously came down to Cincinnati (which was really nice of them because I am SICK of traveling!) for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time; ate a lot for Thanksgiving dinner, played some good games and explored Cincinnati a little bit. On Black Friday (of which we did not participate) we decided to go to Eden Park.

We started at the conservatory (seriously one of my favorite places). It was pretty cold out, so this was appreciated.

Derek and I in the orchid room. By the way, Derek, I think you took my scarf home...

Dad was missing his greenhouse days. I

really think he should create something like this... you'd be good at it, Dad! Huizinga Floral recreated.

This is at the overlook. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day, but I had some under prepared people on my hand because everyone was complaining about how cold it was. After a brief walk, we wandered into the Art Museum(also at Eden Park) and spent some time looking at...well, art.

Ross was working this day, in case you wondered where he was in these photos... We picked him up at lunch time and had some happy hours deals at McCormicks.

After dinner, we went to the Tree Lighting Ceremony downtown. It was suppose to start at 7, so by 7:20, my again - under prepared family, was complaining of the cold, so we decided to leave. Wouldn't you know it? The tree was lite by 7:24 and fireworks right after. Bummer!

Saturday, we began the day by going for a Christmas Walk in Bellevue, KY. They had a really cute little shopping area and we just had fun scanning the shops. We even met Santa and Mrs. Claus, although they were less than enthusiastic to take their picture with us.

Afterwards, we picked up some lunch and headed to the zoo. I was really excited because I've been wanting to go for awhile now, but just never had a good reason to go. It was pretty neat, but a lot of exhibits were down, which was disappointing. I usually love going to the zoo when it's cold because the animals are much more active then (example - the tigers were hilarious; stalking every other and such) but apparently this means that Cincinnati Zoo closes some animal viewings. Oh well.

PNC was hosting a Festival of Lights there, so once it got dark, there was thousands of lights all over the zoo. It was really beautiful.

Ross tried to high five this gingerbread lady, and she missed, so insisted on getting a picture with Ross. Ross was concerned about her eagerness to be with him... He claims she is patting his rear here, but I don't believe him...

Overall, it was a really fun weekend and I'm thankful that they took the time off of work to come down and hang out with us. We really enjoyed having you, Mom, Dad, and Derek!