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Friday Favorites: Elf on the Shelf (Week 4)

That's it. Kenny has now returned to the North Pole to hang out with the big guy in red until next Christmas season. We had a great final week though doing some final Advent Activities and celebrating Christmas (which will be recapped in its own post in the coming days when we have some time).

The first day of the week, Kenny decided it was time to hit up Light Up UCF. We like this because it is fairly low key but lets us check out the campus and surrounding area once a year or so. Plus, we like to show the kids around and the older Kenzie gets (and Will eventually), the more she understands. Kenny "borrowed" Kenzie's hat and my football beads to tell us that we would be going over to UCF. Even Kenny has some school spirit.



We drove out to UCF on Saturday afternoon. We were early so we drove around the area for a while remarking at all that has changed since we were in school there. It has changed so much even since I finished my grad program 6 years ago. I guess you aren't the 2nd largest school in the nation without some changes to adapt to that status. Anyway, we ate dinner off campus and then went over to the Light Up UCF area. Kenzie and Will loved all the lights. Kenzie was slighly too short (depending on which measurement requirement you decided to use) for the ferris wheel but she loved the idea of riding on the train. So, much to my chagrin... my baby girl did her very first ride all by herself. She didn't need us. She laughed and smiled and waved the entire way around the track for the duration of the ride. She had a blast. We had to walk over to take our annual pictures in front of the knight statue by the stadium while we were there. The kids watched the lights dance and Kenzie begged to go down the ice slide (but we told her maybe next year because the line was LONG). It was a fun night.











The next day we found Kenny working on Kenzie's puzzle. She thought this was awesome. Especially because it is a new puzzle for her and she is still learning how to do it. He decided that since everyone had so much fun the night before, that we would do Light Up Mt. Dora.


Mt. Dora is a small town near us that has a really cool "downtown" area. At Christmas time every year they light it up. We had not been before this year but we kept hearing about it. So, we decided to try it. Our neighbors went with us. We walked all around the area and down to the marina to see the boats all lit up and the display over there. Then we found an open area with a large grassy hill and we all laughed hysterically for the next 30 minutes or so as we watched all the girls roll down (and in Kenzie's case... often sideways or even up) the hill. They had a blast. Will chilled in his stroller. There was a wedding going on right there in a tent next to the hill so I didn't feel the need to chase him into the tent during this wedding as I figure that is where he would head the moment I put him on the ground.








Weekends are always busy during this season for us so Kenny decided to give us some downtime on Monday and left us with instructions to watch a Christmas movie and have some chocolate milk. (In lieu of hot chocolate.)


We recorded Frosty the Snowman a few weeks ago and were holding it for this day. Kenzie (like last year) loved it. Will watched a bit of it, but he doesn't do much TV right now anyway so he played for the most part. It was a nice, low key night.




The next day, Kenny actually forgot to head back to the North Pole and back until after midnight. Oops. Not too bad I guess that he made it almost to Christmas before that happened. Good thing he was bringing the gingerbread house kit. That meant he didn't have to do a whole lot and just showed up with it. At least, that is what I am telling myself.


Kenzie was so excited to do the gingerbread house this year. Last year, Kenny found a miniature village. That was nerve wracking. The pieces were tiny and hard to manage. Plus, she was younger. This year, I built the house (1 large one, thank goodness), then added icing and Kenzie pretty much did the rest. I'm fairly proud of her final product. Night and day from last year. She did a pretty great job. As usual, Will hung out and kept us company while eating one of everything in the house it seemed. I admit, it was hard for me to relinquish some control at first, but this was her house so I (reluctantly did it... mostly) and she did great on her own. She was happy. That's what mattered.




The next day Kenny decided for one last hurrah and he toilet papered the chandelier. Kenzie thought this was funny. Daddy was annoyed that not only does Will unroll half a roll of toilet paper, apparently Kenny does too. Haha! The day's activity is our usual December 23 activity of going to a park near our house that is decorated every year.


Kit Land Nelson park is around the corner from us and we love to walk through the lights every year. It was PACKED this year. Okay, Apopka's version of "packed". There were at least 25 other people including small children. I haven't pulled the pics from my camera yet so this is what you get.


On Kenny's final day, he chose to do my favorite of all the traditions. He brought our Christmas Eve pjs. Kenzie LOVED hers. Will doesn't really care... but they were so cute! I have pics, but they are on my normal camera so I will be holding them for a Christmas post. =)



So, that's, that. Kenny had an awesome month here with us. Until next year!

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