Eiche fam

There is a company called Enchant Christmas , with locations all over the United States, where they set up light mazes, ice skating paths, and more. Jessica and her sisters had been planning to go to the event in Milwaukee for some time. Namine’s stay in the hospital had us thinking that we might miss it, but she came home and was feeling well enough again by the time came for us to go.

Suspicious characters

We almost missed our entrance time to Enchant, anyway.

Let me back up a bit. Because we had a large number of people all going together, we decided to carpool. All our families drove to Milwaukee and met up in a grocery store parking lot, where we planned to pile into two vehicles. (It helped that we have a van.) Before we did that, however, Jessica and I realized that we didn’t have a blanket. It was a cold night, and we wanted to make sure Namine’s legs were covered. So I got out at the grocery store parking lot to go find a blanket.

While I ran into two different stores in the strip mall looking for a blanket — I was ultimately successful — Jessica circled the parking lot. This attracted the attention of a local police officer. I came out, carrying my newly purchased blanket, and got into the car. Jessica circled the lot once more, looking for the rest of the family, some of whom climbed into our van.

As we exited the parking lot and headed toward Enchant, which was not far away, the police officer followed. Jessica predicted that we’d get pulled over, despite others’ objections to the contrary. Sure enough, the officer turned on his lights and siren. Once we were pulled over, he informed us that our behavior in the grocery store parking lot was “quite suspicious activity,” and requested an explanation.

Fortunately, he let us go with a warning. We were delayed in arriving to Enchant, but we were not so late that they didn’t let us in at the gate.

A cold but enchanted evening

As I mentioned, it was a cold night. Knowing Wisconsin, though, it could definitely have been colder. It didn’t even snow! Well, let me amend that. It didn’t snow naturally. There was fake snow — which were really bubbles — generated and blown all around the area.

After making our way through the entrance, we headed down a ramp and were greeted by a giant light maze. The maze was prefaced with a sign reading “The Great Search.” The premise was that Santa’s reindeer were lost in the snow storm. It was up to us to find them!

At the maze entrance, we were given a card listing all of the reindeer. By each name was a spot to scratch off, revealing a picture of the reindeer. At each reindeer’s location were tables with a coin to scratch off the corresponding spot on the card. It was cold, but not so cold that Namine couldn’t take off her gloves to scratch off a reindeer’s spot.

The main attractions inside the maze were, of course, the reindeer themselves. But there were also other things, like giant stars and gems, made entirely of lights. There were also a couple different kinds of tunnels, one with dangling icicle lights and one not.

There was also a dance floor, of sorts. It was the kind you’d see in Saturday Night Fever, but the music was of the Christmas variety. There was a ledge to the dance floor, preventing Namine from getting up onto it.

Jessica and I were able to share a small dance. The calm we might exude here was not reflected in the cacophony around us, but that is often the life of parents.

We ended the night colder, but happy. It was a new experience, and we always treasure those (well, maybe not the getting pulled over part). I know I had a lot of fun with my suspicious-looking family members.