Light Up UCF

I don’t know how some of you continue to blog every day during the holidays. I feel like I just blinked and already this weekend is over. But it was jam-packed full of holiday goodness.

On Friday night, we headed out to the University of Central Florida (remember, we went to homecoming there this year? We’re practically becoming honorary alumni) for its annual Light Up UCF event. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and E. is in the beginning stages of a head cold so we almost didn’t go. In fact, as we were pulling onto campus, it started to lightly drizzle and E. was whining, so we seriously almost aborted our mission. But we forged ahead and I’m glad we did!

Our first stop was the ice slide.

OK, it might not be the world’s biggest ice run, but keep in mind a) E is not yet 3 and b) she’s a Florida Cracker. This IS a big hill by Florida standards.

And she did her Pennsylvania born and bred momma proud — SHE LOVED IT!

After a few runs, it was time to take a spin on Santa’s train. It still is so weird for me to let her go on rides by herself. How is she this big already?

Then it was time to check out some of the big attractions — the Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round.

It sort of looks like a winter carnival, huh? To be honest, I was a little surprised by how big that Ferris wheel is (although, DadJovi got to put his dork hat on for a bit and regaled us with the story of how the first Ferris wheel was built for the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 and it was MUCH bigger. I’ll save you all the interesting facts, but if this story sounds remotely interesting, DadJovi recommends the book “Devil in the White City,” which is all about that World Fair). Needless to say, I was hanging onto E. for dear life as we approached the top.

Look how high we were! A shaky gondola with semi-low doors is probably not the best spot for an overly excited 2-year-old. I had her in a momma deathgrip for most of the ride.

Then it was time to make-Mom-almost-throw-up ride the merry-go-round. Honestly, this was the world’s fastest carousel. It whipped you around! This was us before the fun got started. I didn’t let DadJovi take an after because I’m pretty sure I was a little green. Thankfully I had only had about a half a glass of wine that night. Anything more and we may have had a serious situation.

You have to pay to ride the rides and ice slide. There was ice skating, too, but we figured we’d wait another year on that. But there’s a free lights show, sychronized to music. It’s certainly no Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, but it wasn’t bad for free. Oh, and there are free movies, too.

And there was just enough chill in the Florida air to make it feel like a fun winter wonderland. Next year I hope they’ll add some kiosks with hot chocolate or other goodies.

But all in all, it’s definitely worth a trip out to UCF. We even managed to sneak in one more run on the ice slide before calling it night.