Family Time at Christmas (Volume 2)

Every Christmas season I like to plan a family outing, and I guess by now we can call it a tradition. Unintentionally, this special family time has been at a different place each year, and this time we decided to go to downtown Cincinnati (December 22nd).  The city is such a special place to be at Christmas time.  The hustle & bustle, lights, shopping, and sights bring back lots of memories for me and make for a unique experience : )

Like most parents of pre-schoolers, we always hope for a fun time but plan for whatever may come ...  but I must say that this was really a nice day.  The girls had good moods with very little arguing/complaining, and that made for a terrific time.  I was so thankful.  We started the day off by having lunch at a Cincinnati favorite, Skyline Chili.  The girls actually really love this stuff (do you notice the cheese hanging from Anna's mouth in the photo below?).  Then we went to the Hilton to see the gingerbread house display and walked to the Duke building to see the train display (it's 65th year anniversary).  Afterwards we braced ourselves for the cold and went to Fountain Square for ice skating.  John took both of the girls out separately.  Anna was timid at first but when she realized that Daddy wasn't going to let go of her, she relaxed and was all smiles ... until she got too cold.  Payton was eager to get out on the ice.  Even after falling she wanted to get up and have more fun.  She did have one more tumble when we pulled her off the ice and forgot that she couldn't balance herself on the skates.  She didn't recover from that fall until we got her inside, but later she insisted that her favorite part of the day was "When I was Minnie Mouse at Disney on Ice. "  Too cute : ) Well, we ended the day by having hot chocolate at a nearby cafe and seeing the Christmas tree at the Westin.  We had initially hoped to take a carriage ride at dusk but decided to save money and spend more time at home that evening.  Our excursion had already lasted nearly 5 hours!  

I'm so thankful for this special memory making day with the family.  Any suggestions for next year?