Yesterday David and I took the boys out for some fun! In all reality I figured there would be a HUMONGO line to visit Santa at the mall but we only waited about 5-10 minutes on a Saturday during lunchtime so I thought that was great! It took us longer to find a place to park!

Anyway, the boys really had a great time. Nathan walked right up the same Santa he’s seen every single year since birth and hopped up on his lap. Will took to Santa quite well, too, just smiling and staring in fascination at all the white fuzz (which was REAL, by the way) hanging from his chin.

The photographer lady rang some bells and managed to capture this:

Will had just had a short nap so he was all revved up and ready to go. He was just laughing and enjoying sitting on Santa’s lap while Nathan rattled off that he has a train table and could use some new trains for it.

Santa then told him that he wanted them to be good little boys and he’d see what he could do for Christmas for them. Nathan looked at Santa with relief and said, “okay”, then waved goodbye and blurted out a “Merry Christmas” as we walked away.

The fun didn’t stop there.

We then headed over to Rainforest Cafe which I was a bit skeptical about since the last time we were there (which happened to be Nathan’s first visit), he was DEATHLY fearful of the rainstorms and loud noises that the elephants made. This time was a little different though. He seemed to enjoy himself quite well, only covering his ears when the elephants made their sounds. Ironically, we sat just to the left of the elephants so we had a great view of them from our seats. It was when they started with their “barking” (what IS the term for the sound elephants make?) that Nathan looked over and casually asked David, “Daddy, does that elephant have cavities?”

See, the elephants’ mouths probably haven’t had a good scrubbing down since the place opened and from our vantage point it was obvious that the white of their teeth were not exactly “white” anymore. There were some grayish/silvery areas. Nathan naturally assumed these must be cavities.

After a good little chuckle, David and I confirmed that, yes, indeed the elephants did have cavities. Probably because they didn’t brush their teeth too often. Nathan then added that they probably hold their food in their mouths too long and as a result have the cavities. (This is a common thing we go over with Nathan – holding food in his mouth rather than simply chewing and swallowing in a timely manner).

Will, by the way enjoyed all of the animals and activity that Rainforest had to offer.

After lunch, it was off to the merry-go-round and choo-choo train rides. David tackled the first with Nathan and I took to the train ride with him. Let me just say he hasn’t forgotten the routine. The minute we stepped off the train ride, he shouts, “now we can get CHOC-late!!” and curled his little fists up in front of his face like “oh, yeah!”

David started this little tradition quite a long time ago with going on the rides then going to Godiva. It is now a part of the whole routine.

So, we headed over to Godiva where N8 got his usual white chocolate stars with raspberry filling and also a couple of milk chocolate Santas to go along with it. David and I tried their new White Chocolate Raspberry Chocolixir which is like a milkshake basically. I thought it was quite yummy; David thought it was okay.

Then we headed on back to the car and came home. It was an exhausting – but FUN – day!