Wild Nights and Holiday Lights

Last night, I took Lola to the wild animal refuge/sanctuary for their Wild Nights and Holiday Lights event. Since it is an animal sanctuary, most of the animals are ones that previously lived with private owners and were later confiscated by authorities. So you know, tigers, bears, wolves, and other types of animals that aren't appropriate domestic dwellers, but also can't be released into the wild.

I forgot to bring our camera, and as a result, I was stuck taking photos with my phone. Which was fine, because Lola wasn't in the mood to pose for me.

I tried to get a photo of her in the "enchanted forest" (i.e., area of excessively decorated Christmas trees), but the lack of flash on my phone made it rather difficult.

 However, I still tried to get a photo of her with Santa.  Even though she wasn't thrilled to do it, she sat on his lap. She confirmed with him that he was indeed going to bring her a dinosaur for Christmas.

JOSHUA, ARE YOU READING THIS?

(The dinosaurs are still under the tree.)

Afterwards, we rode the mini steam train through the park. It was cute to see how excited Lola was over the train.

On our way home, we stopped at the drugstore because we needed printer paper and I refused to go to Target. When we were checking out, the clerk asked Lola what she wanted for Christmas. Lola looked at her, coughed, said "Excuse me," and then barfed all over the floor.

I was hoping the drugstore incident was a fluke, but nope, she proved me wrong. Lola and I were up most of the night, going through almost all of her pajamas (and mine), and all of the sheets and towels that would fit on her bed. At 2:30 AM, she fell asleep on the floor, in the hallway, and I tucked a blanket around her and left her there. At 4 AM, she woke up and asked me to lay down next to her. So, I curled up with her in the hallway, and then woke up at 6 AM to her puking on me and my pillow.

Right now, the washing machine is going, she is sipping on some Pedialyte, and I am on my 3rd cup of coffee. I am writing about this, not to complain (well, maybe to complain a little bit), but to remind myself that for whatever reason holidays do not go as planned when you have a beancake like mine. Learning how to roll with it (and pour yourself another cup of coffee) is an important part of all of this.