Photo-A-Day #3521

When we booked our trip to the Christmas Farm Inn we decided that we would take the kids to Santa’s Village for the first time. I am pretty sure that the kids had never even heard of the place and that is what made for a perfect surprise. We got up and packed. Hit our last breakfast at the Christmas Farm Inn and then got on our way. Santa’s Village doesn’t open until 11am and that was checkout time so we had plenty of time to get ready and head out to Santa’s Village. Our drive there was beautiful. The snow on all the trees and the mountains was amazing. The kids even liked looking out the window in between another viewing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. They can’t get enough of that special.

Our GPS tried to send us through the mountains and on road not maintained for Winter travel. We did drive it for a bit until we came to a camping area and there was nowhere else to go. So we backtracked but the views were spectacular. We arrived at Santa’s Village a little after they opened and the place was pretty packed. So many people had the same idea. I’m sure that it is a Christmas tradition for so many people. We might even make it one of ours.

I haven’t been to Santa’s Village in many, many years. I remember a few things from it like the Antique Cars. They have an activity for the kids called, The Elfabet. There are 26 elves throughout the park. Kids stop first at the Elf Academy and they get a card with their name on it. Then they wear it around their necks or on their jackets. Then kids have to find each one of the elves and get their card punched. Each letter is part of a Christmas tree and once the tree is fully lit up (all letters punched) the kids can take that back to the Elf Academy for a prize. This activity was a big hit for the kids.

We tried to do all of the park but started to lose steam close to 4pm. We were running on fumes. The park was nice but a bit crowded. It was cold and while we were dressed appropriately we could have done better all around and bundled for such a cold snowy day. Andrew did pretty well most of the day but then got tired and cold and cranky. He was around his nap time but refused to fall asleep, there was so much to see.

We did all sorts of fun things, we saw the two shows and rode on the Skyline Sleigh Ride.That was one of the most enjoyable rides through the park. We didn’t hit the train ride and I would have liked to have gone on that but we didn’t find the actual station until the very end of our day. Next Time.

We did wait in line and visit Santa in his home. That was enjoyable. We learned that Andrew wants a purple sailboat just like Bot from Team Umi Zoomi. No idea where to get one of those. The kids were adorable with Santa. They were so animated with him and had fun meeting him.

We stayed at the park till just about four O’Clock. Next time we make plans to stay overnight after our visit to Santa’s Village and we arrive a little later so we can stay for all the lights.

Our trip home was not at all as long as our trip there. The kids had the movies in the Enclave although Andrew fell asleep almost before we left the parking lot. Eva got to pick and watch whatever she wanted and she enjoyed that. We had a nice ride home and arrived back around 9pm to a warm house (thanks to our house sitter turning on the heat) and some cats happy to see us.

This whole trip was one of the best vacations we have shared together as a family, so far.