Monday, December 8, 2008

You know you're a redneck when.....

.......you take your kids to visit Santa at the





That's right! The Bass Pro Shop!
We visited the Santa's Wonderland Friday night. A mom at Olivia's preschool was talking about it and we love the seafood restaurant there so we figured we could eat dinner and visit Santa all at the same place. Plus, the Santa at our mall is a little creepy and the back drop is not very pretty. So we went and had a blast! First of all, we got right in at the restaurant - we've gone before and waited over an hour to eat there (it was a Saturday night though). After dinner we went to Santa's Wonderland and there were only 3 kids ahead of us - beats the long line at the mall we would have stood in on Friday night! The Santa was AMAZING!! He was one of the most beautiful Santas I have ever seen - just a jolly old fellow!! The elf at the beginning of the line talked a little to the kids while they waited in line and I don't know how, but Santa listened so he knew the kids names when they got to him - just like it should be, Santa has to know their name - he's been watching them all season, right?
Olivia told Santa that she wanted a Rescue Pet swim puppy and that Jack wanted a basketball. We received a FREE photo - yep, I said FREE! And two coupons for free kids meals at the seafood restaurant - wish I would have known that first - we would have waited to eat :-) but the coupons are good through January so we'll just have to go back.
After visiting Santa we played with a Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle (actually it was a Red Ryder laser gun), a soft dart bow and remote control trucks. There were other things to do too like color pictures and write a letter to Santa.
So, we might be rednecks, but we had an awesome time together. Here's some pics











Then on Saturday we visited a tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree. We haven't had a real tree since we came home from Indy several years ago and found it had toppled over - the water had seeped into the carpet and pad and sap got all over our floor and I broke my vacuum cleaner cleaning up the mess!
This year we are staying home for Christmas. This will be our first Christmas ever in our own house. We will travel to Indy on Christmas day after we spend Christmas morning at our house. So in honor of our first Christmas in our house we bought a really nice artificial tree. But then Brian thought about Olivia's first Christmas when we all went to a Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree and he wanted to do the same with Jack. So we bundled up and went to a tree farm where the family got to take a hayride to the field and back and enjoy hot cocoa while we waited on our tree to get wrapped up. We also ran into our good friend's, The Schutts (mommy25).



Jack was oblivious - he was bundled up in the sling and slept the entire time!

Even Santa came to visit!

9 comments:

ReeRee said...

Looks like you guys had a great weekend. Sure beats getting your Christmas tree at Home Depot(it's actually a nice tree.) We were going to take the boys to Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier on Saturday morning only to be greeted with "I'm not doing that!" and "It sounds boring." I should just go by myself!
Great pictures!

mommy to an angel said...

You can take me with you! I LOVE the Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier!!! We were supposed to go on Saturday too with my parents and brothers, but they all backed out.

Anonymous said...

seems like you had a wonderful time. wonder if there is any place around us like that where we could take sonya??? i'll have to research. the pics are so sweet. can't wait to see you again on christmas. love you all!

Leenie said...

Those pictures are awesome. I told Dan we are gonna be rednecks too and take the kids to Bass.

Now the Santa at the Christmas Tree Farm looks a little creepy.

On Stage said...

You Barnetts are a bunch of copycats. We went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops on Nov. 29th. Santa WAS awesome!

You also went to Kingma's in DeMotte, didn't you? We're going this Saturday. Kingma's is a lot of fun. William and his cousin rode in the tractor last year- William's dream come true!

Glad to hear you had fun!

mommy to an angel said...

Yes, we went to Kingma's - first time and we'll be going back!
The Santa was a tiny bit creepy.
Two of the Schutt (mommy25) boys got to ride in the tractor so I'm sure they'd let William if you just ask.

Seriously, everyone should be a redneck and go to BPS!!!

Megan said...

Such great pics!!! I love the one of Jack with the big smile!!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you liked your tree! We've never been anywhere else for one and I was surprised to hear that other farms don't "paint their trees". For those of you "artificial families", they actually spray paint the trees deep green for more effect. I have to admit, for lots of years, I had NO idea they were painted!

Anonymous said...

I remember that Christmas when your tree fell over while you were in Indy! It looks like you guys had a great time, and I love Olivia's new do. Bass Pro Shop is always fun. We always have some sort of tree drama...this year there was a crack in our stand and I was dutifully watering the tree all day only to discover that our hardwood floors were drenched that night. UGH! Can you just imagine John? We had the hair drying going and everything, but the floors survived. :)