Lighting It Up - Capitol Style

Saturday afternoon, we went down to watch the 70th Annual State Capitol Lighting Ceremony. The festivities kicked off with the Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade - I think we all know how much I love a Parade & sweet little Ava does, too! There were also "Kids Crafts" and free hot chocolate and cookies on the Capitol grounds, too! I helped myself to 2 cups - and I am not ashamed one bit - it was cold & that hot cocoa was delish!

Here are me, D.Might, and Ava - watching the Parade in front of the Capitol

PopPop and Gigi got in on all the fun, too!

PopPop and Ava - watching the Parade - look at her sweet grin!

It was kind of chilly outside, so we ventured into the Capitol to see all the decorations. Ava loved posing by these "deer-bucks" :) Every square inch of the Capitol is decorated for Christmas, now I know why everyone wants their Christmas card picture taken there!

Here is the Capitol Tree inside the Capitol Rotunda - it is 23 feet tall & features hand-painted ornaments with scenes from all 75 counties. I wanted to get Ava's picture in front of it, but there were several people doing the same thing & I didn't want to miss any of the actual lighting ceremony!

Here she is on one of the grand staircases - there were also several people getting photo-ops on those, too!

When we got back outside, Ava found the best seat in the house! Her little face just lit up when Santa Claus & Mrs. Claus came out!! There was a group of older ladies who sang a few carols, then it was on with the show...

The Capitol is dressed with over 300,000 white lights...and who else would help put those up there, other than PopPop himself?! That's right, y'all - even the one's way up on top of the dome & I'm just thankful (and a little surprised) he didn't fall off, haha!

Here we are after they flipped the switch - Ava was not so excited about all the fireworks, she kept saying "They fall out of the sky on me!"

...She might have a future roll in a Chicken Little production...

Gigi and PopPop with his handiwork twinkling in the background :)

Of course, what outing would be complete with out some dinner at Olive Garden?! That's right folks - two weekends in a row....I'm getting a little bit spoiled... After dinner, we went over to Copeland's to try some of their cheesecake (it was rumored to be compared to the varieties of those at the Cheesecake Factory). They had a nice selection (I was already beyond full, so I actually didn't get any - I know I must have been sick or something to turn down any sort of sugary goodies) - but if you've been to the Cheesecake Factory, there's really no comparison.

Thanks Gig & Pop for inviting us to go with! We had a great time :)

*Good job, Pop - so glad everything lit up according to plan! Ava loved getting to see all those Christmas lights!*