Winter Wonderland. . .in the desert!!!

I know, this hardly looks like a backdrop for a Winter Wonderland, but behind that building was lots of Winter fun in the desert! We desert people take whatever little bits and pieces of winter we can get. . .in small doses of course! So what if the snow has to be trucked in and the sledding "hill" is made of haystacks and a metal platform underneath a pile of snow that may or may not have been shaved in an ice factory (versus being kidnapped from a mountain)! It was fun! I don't know any better since this is only the second time I've even seen snow! (the 1st time was when Mommy and Daddy took me to North Dakota in November)


This is the Marriott resort right by my house. It is really neat-o!!! The weekend before Christmas, they hosted a Winter Wonderland complete with sledding (with the aforementioned trucked in snow), Santa, horse drawn carriage rides, horses to ride and pet, free hot cocoa, tons of holiday decorations, music, and and lots of Christmas trees throughout the property. It was sooooo fun!


The 1st night we ate dinner at a nice restaurant, listened to the Tucson Boys chrous sing Christmas carols, and then Santa arrived. . .by reindeer and sleigh, you ask??? NOPE! By helicopter! Hmmmm. I guess Rudolf and his pals had too much egg nog the night before! Or perhaps somebody spiked their carrot juice! All I know is that they were nowhere to be found. After Santa's helicopter landed, there were FIREWORKS too! WOW! It was exciting!

We were having so much fun, that mommy and daddy decided to stay a second night! We didn't want to miss the festivities going on Saturday evening--including horse drawn carriage rides and Santa even came to my room to tuck me into bed! Although I was still leary, and didn't really want him in my room! I still got a candy cane even though I wouldn't let him inside the room.

So anyway, that Saturday, was my 1st time sledding, and I loved it! I think mommy was nervous, but I giggled all the way down the hill and begged to go again, again, again!!! I wore poor mommy out! So we took a break, ate some lunch, and then my friends showed up and we went sledding again! This time mommy let me go down the hill with my friend. After sledding, we saw Santa again, and I didn't cry that time :) I was getting used to him! He was nice. After Santa, we went on a horse drawn carriage ride around the property. That was fun too! Mommy and our friends sang jingle bells. I don't know the words yet, but I was a good listener.

I think I will ask Bopbop to buy me a horse :) I really love them! Even though I was afraid to ride one of the ones set up for kids to ride. . .but I really enjoyed petting him and watching all of them walk around :)

Throwing snowballs at daddy!

One of Santa's Elves got a kick out of watching mommy and I sledding :)

I hope she was keeping track of how GOOD I was being all weekend so she could give Santa a good report!

Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

My other sledding buddy :) Mommy was fun, but I think we went down the hill faster with my friend!

Watching mommy go down the hill. I giggled and giggled! She looked so silly!

My friends with Santa.

The second time I saw Santa that weekend! This time I didn't scream and cry :)

We are so silly

Mommy's friends being goofy :)

Enjoying the carriage ride

Santa came to our room to tuck me in! How special :) (But I didn't let him get past the door. . .I took the candy cane he offered me and waved at him though!)

Visions of sugar plums, dancing in my head. . .or were those cheesies?

Winding down with mommy after a fun day.

The first time I saw Santa. . .didn't go very well. I was so excited to see him! UNTIL Mommy tried to put me on his lap.

C'mon daddy! We can't be late to see Santa Claus!!!

The view from our balcony. The hotel had cool lights projecting snowflakes onto the drive and the mountain in back of the hotel. It was so cool!

I took this photo of my daddy at dinner. He looks really happy to be there! Or is he waiting for me to toss some of my french fries into his mouth??? hmmmmmm. . .

I'm eyeing Mommy's Prickly Pear Margarita! I kept trying to steal it from her, but she was onto me and didn't let me have any. She finally had to order me a Shirly Temple so I'd leave her drink alone! What's so great about a Margarita, anyway? Looked like juice with ice to me! And why was there salt on the rim of the glass? I guess it helps to keep mommy's lips from sticking to the cold glass :)

**Here's videos of Hannah having fun on a tiny staircase she found near the elevator on our floor. She must've climbed up and walked down those stairs a thousand times over the 2 nights we were there! I think she did a wonderful job at walking down! I kept trying to get her to slide down on her bottom, but she was insistent on walking down so I let her try, thinking she'd fall, but she never did! Not bad for a little girl with NO stairs at her house or at her granny and grandpa's house! There's also a video of her trying to snap and groove to the holiday music. I wish I had video of her really be-boppin' up a storm! But true to form, her dancing and snapping came to a hault as soon as the camera was on her :) I only caught a few seconds of it.