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One Starry Night 2014

This year we checked out One Starry Night at the Grimes United Methodist Church.

It was amazing!

One Starry Night is not just a live nativity scene, but it’s a journey you take through Bethlehem and end at a live nativity scene. The whole church is set-up like Bethlehem, everyone is dressed up accordingly and there are live animals! Monte enjoyed the real life experience. The entire time, he was completely engaged in what was going on.

When you enter the church you register your family at the census table and receive your denarii, in a little cloth bag. Monte made sure to hold on to the denari and paid whenever he needed to. Then you walk into the worship area where you get to take a family picture!

Of course, Monte wouldn’t look at the camera!

As you wait in the worship area, waiting to start your trip through Bethlehem, you can snack on cookies and hot cocoa. There is a large screen with a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie playing to keep the kiddos entertained for a bit. There was also three young ladies who sang some Christmas songs, while we waited.

Then you get to enter the town of Bethlehem! Your first stop is to pay taxes. Monte had to pay one denari! Then we ventured outside where we looked at the stars with the shepherds and angels appeared to deliver the good news.

We then saw King Herod receive the news from the Magis. We traveled with the Magis through Bethlehem and even looked for a place to stay the night, but there was no room at the Inn.

We traveled back outside and saw baby Jesus and the live nativity scene!

After our travels, Monte spent the rest of his denari on animal crackers, making a clay pot, a Christmas bracelet, an ornament and a scarf !

I loved every moment of One Starry Night. Not only did Monte learn about baby Jesus, but he also learned the value of giving his denari to be able to go on the journey, do a craft, or eat some food. Oh yeah … and the entire thing was FREE!

This will definitely become a new tradition for our family in years to come. Unfortunately, One Starry Night is finished for the season, but I highly recommend putting it on your list to check out in 2015!

Have you and your family been to One Starry Night before?

Des Moines Halloween Events 2014

There are so many Halloween events that go on this time of year, in the Des Moines area! It’s so hard to pick and choose a few to do and see. We did some more fun activities this past week and none of them disappointed!

The Great Pumpkin Party was a three day event held by Valley Church in West Des Moines. We were not able to make it out until the final night, Thursday. Tuesday night was was specifically for families with special needs, which I thought was awesome! This event was so large, it was held at the Valley Church and the Valley Community Center across the street.

We were there right at 6 pm when the doors opened!

They had pony rides, right outside. Monte was soooo close to ride, but he got very nervous once he sat down on the pony.

The worship area was full of inflatables and right when you walked in,there was a huge Lightning McQueen inflatable slide. You should have seen the look on Monte’s face!

This event also consisted of live music, an illusionist, face painting, photo booth pictures, games, a petting zoo, ice cream, popcorn, lemonade, and MORE! All of this was FREE!

Monte’s favorite part of the evening (besides the large inflatables) was taking his picture with the super heroes!

Saturday evening we made it to the Annual Grimes Halloween Fest at the Grimes Community Center.

The whole building was filled with fun activities. As you walked through the building there were people dressed up, handing out candy. There were two different bake sales going on! Inflatables to play on (one of Monte’s favorite), a haunted house (we did not go in), a soft-play area for the little kids to run and jump, AND free tours of an ambulance and fire truck!

Monte though the fire truck and ambulance were way cool!

Sunday after carving and painting our pumpkins …

We went to the Valley Junction Pumpkin Walk. The event was 2-6 pm and we went a bit late, around 4ish. A lot of the things were just finishing up when we got there, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

The highlight of the event was, of course, getting candy.

A lot of the stores participated and as you walked through the junction you could stop and get candy! One store, gave away fancy, collectible rocks! Monte thought that was pretty neat!

Green Grounds Cafe hosted children’s activities and you could get a balloon animal! Monte got a GIANT sword! There was also a chance to get a FREE pumpkin.

What fun Halloween activities have you been checking out?!