On December 20th Tara & I took the kids for their first visit to Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth. We made the drive north with out friends Melissa and Tania, as well as their kids. In total there was 11 kids and 4 adults, with me being the only male. Yippee for me!

    Because of our departure time from home, we decided to stop for dinner in Birch Run. We chose the Culver's restaurant, and lucked out as they had their burgers on special this one day only. While the food was pretty good, I wouldn't rank it among my favorite places to eat any time soon. I know that we got some strange looks with me eating dinner with three ladies with 11 kids in tow! The volume of the kids probably didn't help, either...

    After dinner we loaded back into our van (all of the rowdy boys) and Tania's Suburban (all of the quiet, pleasant girls made of sugar) for the short drive to Frankenmuth to do our Christmas ornament shopping. I kept the boys occupied by blasting music such as "Weird Al" and by rocking the van side to side. Aside from the smells that emanate from 6 adolescent boys, the ride wasn't too bad - no fist fights or anything!

    Once we arrived at Bronner's we took a couple of group photos at the entrance before separating into our respective families to do some shopping. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the store, amazed at the selection of ornaments and other Christmas goodies offered here. Each of our kids selected an ornament that they had personalized, as did Tara & I. Hopefully we can make this into an annual family tradition.

    After leaving Bronner's we made a quick drive through downtown Frankenmuth to look at the lights before making the drive back towards home. We did make a brief detour at Meijer to do some shopping that Tara & I needed to complete. I am sure that we got a few strange looks here as well, but the kids were kept entertained by the ice cream cones that Tara treated them all too for "behaving" throughout the evening. Once our shopping was done, we finished the drive home. Safely back at home we separated back into our own families once again and called it a night. We had a great time with everyone involved with the evening and are looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland
	Hannah, Elizabeth, Tyler, Taren, Samantha, Erin, Ben, Jayden, Nick, Drew, and Tevin posing with the Santa Claus statue inside one of the entrances to the store.
	Tyler, Drew, and Sam standing with another Santa statue at the store exit.
	Tyler, Jay, Drew, and Sam with the Santa statue.
	Another picture of Tyler, Jay, Drew, and Sammie.
	Jayden and Sammie with an animated penguin.
	Jay standing with a polar bear.