Reina's Birthday...........................................

Saturday, today, we celebrated Reina's birthday. It was officially on the 11th but we had to wait until the weekend. My gift was an adventure. Reina likes my adventures. Today's was to Pahl's country store out in Buckley. They have a pumpkin patch in the Fall and we went there one time to a hay ride. Anyway today was a trip into the woods to Santa's house.

Today was 40 degrees, warm for this time of year and perfect for being outside. It was foggy from the mists coming up from whats left of the snow. We found our way though. We were just in time to catch the next tractor ride. Off to visit Santa.

We do not encourage our kids to "believe" in Santa. That is not to say we do not indulge in make believe. That is fun and does no harm. We were explaining how the legend of Santa came to be, we told about St Nicholas and that he was such a good man and that  Santa is based on him. Tristen asked if he was still around and I said no he died a long time ago.

Here are Reina and Tristen waiting to go in and see Santa.

They did not really get enthused about Santa. Tristen said "you are not Santa, Santas is dead" I had to explain what we had talked about, I think Santa was a little put out haha. Santa said "No I'm not I am right here" Anyway, they were entertained and went on to hot cocoa and marshmallows. They got into that.

I even enjoyed the marshmallows and I am not keen. It was smokey and smelled lovely.



We came back to visit the barn where they had small animals to pet. Goats and a pig, a pony and donkey and the roosters. A couple of barn cats were available to be petted.

They had a nativity in the straw, a nice touch.
The next stop was the craft house and they got to choose one of three things offered. Needless to say they chose to decorate cookies.

Apparently Tristens tasted pretty good

After that we went home to have cake and ice cream and for Reina to open her gifts. She was anxious to get back by that time.



Aunt Laura bought her a new set for her Pet Shop and so Tristen went home with them and they spent the rest of the day playing with that. Maybe they will sleep better tonight, they sure didn't get much sleep last night. Laura had to work so Reina spent the night. She slept in Tristens bed with him. He came in our room at 3am and said he and Reina were hungry..............I looked at the clock with unbelieving eyes. "Geeeeetttttttt baaaaackkkkk to bed" I said as the dogs all protested being awakend. He did, but they were up by 6am. At least we can sleep in tomorrow.