Santa's Village

We had the most wonderful day at Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH today. We are exhausted, but so happy and have so many special memories of our day today.

(As some of you know, last year was our first visit to Santa's Village, and we were quite caught off guard when halfway there, Donovan, who had never been motion sick before, became very ill on the trip. This year, with the addition of Aaron with his SEVERE motion sickness, both boys were given Dramamine, and we had a very pleasant car ride there and back.)

When I woke the boys up at 6 am (in preparation for our 7 am departure), Donovan sat up and said in a surprised voiced, "What? Time to get up already? It's still dark out." This gave me a good laugh as this is the boy who usually comes into our bedroom around 6 or 6:15 each morning, and who for a least two years was up between 5and 5:30 am...

We had a really nice ride there, enjoying the gorgeous fall foliage. It takes 2 1/2 hours to get so Santa's Village. We were there a few minutes before it opened, and in fact, we were the first in line to see Santa. Donovan had been saying for several days that he planned to give Santa a big hug and thank him for the train table he brought last year. Well...we walked in, and Donovan became a bit shy. So, here is Aaron, who has never seen Santa (except in photos in Donovan's scrapbook which we have been looking at the past few days), and he says, "Thank you for the train table. I like construction vehicles, and cars and I would like a UPS truck and an ice cream truck." (This from a little boy home 5 1/2 months, who only knows Santa from the little bit of information we have told him the past couple weeks). In any case, this really helped Donovan feel at ease. Donovan then also thanked Santa for the train table from last Christmas and did give Santa a BIG hug. He also said he likes construction vehicles. Santa gave both boys TWO candy canes and the boys sat on his lap for some photos.

Last year I would say that the train ride (which we did 4 times last year) was the hit. This year, without question, the Antique cars were the highlight. We went on them 4 times in a row! (and then 8 other times throughout the day). Donovan was THRILLED to find out that this year when he stood up with his foot on the pedal, he was able to make the antique cars go. Aaron was also able to do this and was very pleased with himself. They are still talking about it!

Both boys also liked the ferris wheel, carousel, train ride, and bumper cars. Last year I did take Donovan on the rollercoaster, but he did not care for it. We've been reading a book about a rollercoaster for the past month, and Donovan said he wanted to go on it this year. So, we did. And he LOVED it. In fact, after we got off, he went on it two more times (for a total of SIX trips around the rollercoaster) with Rupert. Aaron watched and decided not to go on it. Then during lunch, Aaron said he wished he had gone on it. So, a little while after lunch, he went on with Rupert, and while I don't think it was Aaron's favorite, he was very proud of himself that he went on it!

We enjoyed a great pizza at lunchtime. Both boys were very hungry and loved their pizz and a special treat of chocolate milk. We had a very nice ride home (again enjoying the fall foliage). Both boys were asleep less than five minutes at bedtime!