Santa's Village Part 2 - Making a Splash!

One of the things Wayne really wanted to do at Santa's Village was to drive the antique cars. We came across them as we searched for the water area of the park. This was a popular ride so there was a long line.

 I liked the signs

As a matter of fact, these cars are one of the features I remember from my childhood.  Before we got here, I told Wayne about how when I was a kid, the car I drove somehow jumped the track and I veered out across lawn for a ways before one of the attendants finally jumped in and steered me back on course.  Wayne was hoping that would happen to him, but after my incident, they must have improved their design because I don't see how a car could  jump the track now.  Below, Cole drives us through a steamy swamp.  Heather was in the back seat.

It's hard to tell, but that's Wes and Wayne, with Wayne driving.  They're about to enter the car wash.

Throughout SV there are lots of trees, shade, flowers, pretty landscaping, little ponds with fish, charming little houses, buildings and winding roads.  But when you enter the water park area, the whole place just opens up to a sea of kids running around in their bathing suits like colorful little fish, wet hair plastered to their foreheads. 

Wayne and Cole wore their swimming trunks and Heather wore her bathing suit under her dress. Everytime I had to take her to the bathroom, I cursed myself for putting the one-piece on her instead of her tankini. Anyway, the first water play area we encountered was this place with little geyser-like fountains. It was a great area for little kids and toddlers.  And Cole.

That was nice, but then we looked up and saw this - the Ho Ho H2O.

A giant water based playground. There is just so much going on here that it's mind boggling and impossible to capture with pictures, but I sure did try.  Can you imagine being the person who has the job of designing things like this?  Thank goodness he, she, or they use their genius for good instead of evil.   On second thought, considering some of the features of this thing, maybe it's both good and evil.   Below Wayne investigates this cone that fills with water.  You can tip it so that it dumps on some poor kid below.

See the wheel Wayne's turning?  Makes the water shoot out or stop.

Ok, here's the best part.  This giant bucket that sits on top of the whole thing is continually filling up with water.  When it's almost full, a bell starts dinging.  When the bell starts dinging, people start screaming.

The bell is to give everyone a 45 second warning that this is about to happen:

For one munite there's total excitement as people run - some are running to get directly under it, some are running to get away from it. 

Heather and I stayed in the gentler area.

While I kept and eye on Heather, Wes tried to keep track of the boys.

After spending plenty of time at the Ho Ho H2O, it was time to dry off and have another photo op with a giant bunny.

The last ride of the day - the Yule Log.  They look happy enough now...

...but you should have heard Wes screaming from here.  They come down VERY fast.  I was worried for my babies.

Our day at Santa's Village ended with a huge splash.

I think this is how we all felt at the end of the day.

On the ride home, I realized that we never did make it to Santa's house to see him, but the kids never mentioned it.   We were there for 5 and a half hours and I think we hit all the major things we wanted to, but there was a lot we didn't see and do.  There was just too much. My final verdict is that Santa's Village is worth the price to get in.  We had decided to do this instead of the fair this year, and while I miss the local exhibits, I do not miss the noise and dirtiness of the fair.

When we got home and Cole woke up, the first thing he said (before even getting out of the car) was, "Mommy, where's my helmet?"

Santa's Village Part 1 - Rides and Reindeer

In the middle of nowhere, on Rt. 2, Jefferson, NH is every child's dream come true. 

Every time we travel to Gramma and Grampa's house in Maine, we drive right past Santa's Village and I've been promising the kids for years that we would go there sometime. I have vague memories of going there with my own parents and have been looking forward to reliving those memories ever since Wayne was born. Wes and I figured that this summer should be the year we finally make it happen because Heather is old enough to enjoy it and soon Wayne will actually be too old. So on Thursday, with the sun giving its blessing and the White Mountains on our horizon, we made the one hour drive to Santa's Village.  Here are the looks on Heather and Cole's faces as we drove in the parking lot.

We arrived at 11:30 a.m. and the parking lot was packed tight.  We had to park way in the back of the second parking lot across the road.  Wes let out a groan when we saw how many cars and people there were.  I braced myself for the ordeal of pushing through crowds and waiting in lines with 3 young kids.  But I could see that Wayne, Cole, and Heather were filled with anticipation and raring to go, so I prepared myself to grin and bear it.

We stopped for a photo op in the sleigh before the entrance. Cole looks pretty excited here, but I had to pry him away from his obsessive bike riding before we left.

When we got inside, I was happily surprised to find that yes, there were lots of people everywhere, but apparently Santa's Village is large enough to accommodate huge numbers of people without feeling at all overcrowded or congested.  Pleasant Christmas music is piped throughout the park, reminding me of the scenes from "The Polar Express" where the kids are celebrating in the city at the North Pole.

Another photo op of my little cupcake in a cupcake.

Like I said, I have only vague memories, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We started to just wander around the roads. The kids really wanted to hit some rides, so that's what we started looking for. Along the way, we came to the "Reindeer Rendezvous," a stable where you can pet and feed the reindeer.  This was a big hit.

I think this old guy is the grandaddy of all reindeer.

One of the first rides we chose was called The Skyway Sleigh. Wes is taking the picture, Heather and Cole are between Wayne and me. It took us on a nice, slow (but sometimes very high) ride throughout some of the park. It turned out to be a good way to discover where some things were located.  It was fun to look down and wave at people.

Loopin' Louie's Flying School - as the ride goes around, you control how high or low you go by pushing or pulling on the bar.  Heather and I also went on this ride.

The Little Drummer Boy - spinning drums.

Bumper cars - one of Wayne's favorites.

Cole, happy to finally be old enough to go on some of these fun rides by himself.

I was in a bumper car with Heather. She was driving and refused to let me help. She kept crashing us into the wall.

While we were all on the bumper cars, Wes had made the long journey  to the back of the second parking, lot across the street, to get our cooler for a picnic lunch.  Santa's Village has plenty of places to buy food, but at $25 a head to get in (except for Heather who got in free for being under 4 - another good reason we didn't wait until next year) we didn't want to spend any more on food.  By the way, that price covers all rides and activities for the whole day.  The only other thing I spent money on was batteries for my camera, which actually cost LESS than in the real world. 

After lunch, yet another photo op with a giant snowman.

A ride called The Great Humbug Adventure.  As you go through this building, you have to zap all the humbugs on the walls to make them smile. Each car keeps a digital score and whoever gets the high score for that ride gets a candy cane for a prize. None of us were the high scorers.

At Santa's Village, many of Santa's Helpers seem to be either older retired folks, or young high school/college kids, all trained to the hilt in jolliness, friendliness, and helpfuness.  This Helper points to a Humbug mounted on the wall to show Heather and Wes how to zap them with the laser guns.

I love Heather's face in this photo as she ride the Christmas Carousel. Wayne and Cole enjoyed it too.

When we first walked into the park, I saw this pretty little train, the Jinglebell Express, go chugging by and decided that it was one of the things I wanted most to ride. It plays bell-like Christmas music as it goes along.  It took us a while to find the "train station" to get on, but the ride turned out to be another good way to explore the park.  By the way, the Jinglebell Express Station is also a coffee shop. Cute, huh?

Wayne, Heather, and I sat behind Wes and Cole.

Not a great shot, but as we passed, I tried to get a pic of the Three Wise Men at the manger.

And that my friends, is all I have the stamina to post for today.  Stay tuned in the near future for Part 2 of our Santa's Village visit.  I think I'll call it, "Making a Splash."

A Day with Dante

On Tuesday, I traded in Cole for Dante. Just for a few hours.

Cole went to spend the morning with Fintan while Dante came to spend the morning with Wayne (and Heather).

Lunch on the porch. We have to squeeze in as many meals on the porch as the summer will allow.

Then we took Dante to the pond and showed him how to make cattail ducks.

Here is one of his swimming in the water.

Then there were some light saber battles on logs.

Dante is Wayne's longest friend. They've known each other since they were barely able to walk. Look at them now.

Cole Rides a Bike

Cole has learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  You can't really hear it very well in this video, but he's singing a song that goes something like "... and the sun came out and smiled at me 'cause it's the best day ever, YEAH, IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER!"

He spent every moment of the rest of the day riding, riding, riding, only taking breaks for lunch, dinner and to go to bed. We even took his bike to the school so he could ride around on the flat, paved parking lot.  He's going to have some sore muscles in the morning. Now that he can really ride, I'll have to get him a helmet that actually fits!  The feeling of accomplishment must have him reved up for new challenges, because when he went to bed he asked me, "What else do I need to learn now?"