Callaway Garden - Festival in Lights

This year starts our first family trip to Callaway Gardens to see the lights. We left Rome after John Brady's nap on Thursday for the two hour car trip. John Brady did great and watched Elmo most of the way there.

Glad to be out of the car

We arrived in Pine Mountain and checked into our cabin, which was nice and spacious. Once we checked in and recharged our batteries we loaded back up to check out the Christmas Village.

LUCKILY, we arrived early and went ahead and got in line for the lights. We were the first car parked in line to see the lights. We visited the village which had the typical rinky dink souvenirs but enjoyed some fresh air at the pavillion and John Brady's first taste of funnel cake.

coloring with daddy @ the Village

Once the sun started to set we headed back to our car to wait for the go ahead to start driving through the lights. We only traveled 2 miles an hour so John Brady got to ride in my lap with the window down so he could see all the lights and hear the music during each display. He was frozen for the entire hour and even had a few jaw dropping facial expressions when seeing some lights. He recognized many animals and enjoyed seeing the lights and shaking his head to the music. The drive through the lights lasted about an hour and was beautiful. Not only did I enjoy the lights but seeing John Brady's face full of excitement was the best part!

Riding with mommy through the lights

We ended the night eating in the lodge. John Brady did awesome and sat in a big boy chair aka the normal dining chairs the entire wait and while eating. He colored while waiting and enjoyed pinapple and cantaloupe until his chicken and fries arrived. Once he was done the kids meal included a small ice cream which is a rare treat...he of course was all about that. Drew and I enjoyed an awesome southwest chicken wrap while my parents loved their burgers and fries. We called it a night and got little man clean, snuggled up and right to sleep.

The following day we enjoyed a breakfast buffet, which is one of John Brady's favorite things. He loves EVERYTHING breakfast. He ate everything offered fruit, grits, eggs, biscuit, bacon, bites of waffle and omelet. Once we finished we took him to see a birds of prey show before heading home.

He laughed the whole time and pointed to the birds. His favorite part was when the owls flew over our heads creating wind and only clearing our head by a few inches. He cooperated well and seemed to enjoy the entire trip. We hope to visit Callaway again next year and do it all over again! Merry Merry Christmas!