Visiting Santa!

Last night we met our friends Lyla and her girls Lilly and Chloe at Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa and enjoy the decorations and activities provided. Lyla and her family are new to the area so we were excited to show them Bass Pro Shop as well as spend a little time with them. The four of us arrived at Bass Pro, met up with Lyla and got our time card to meet Santa which was only an hour away! Last year when we visited (the Sunday before Christmas - big mistake), our wait was five hours! An hour is the perfect amount of time to explore Bass Pro and we headed for the carousel so the girls could ride. It was such a quiet night at Bass Pro that we were the only ones waiting to ride!

After the carousel, we headed over to do the snowman craft, which again the girls had completely to themselves! Then the girls headed to the next table to fill out their letter to Santa. Last year when Sofia wrote her letter, she wrote "O O O O O" on the first two lines then mailed it. This year, she asked me how to spell "I would like a horse set. Love, Sofia" which she wrote like a champ. Then the girls put their letters into the mailbox marked for delivery to Santa.

By the time the girls were done with their letters, it was time to visit with Santa! As we walked to get into the line, Sofia saw "THE" gift! It was a horse set with a cowgirl, horse tack, a bucket, horse feed, and brush. She turned to me and said "THIS is what I want to ask Santa for!" After a short wait, we were walking toward Santa and Sofia was excited to sit on his lap while Olivia started clinging tighter and tighter to me as we got closer to the big guy. Sofia sat on Santa's lap while I held Olivia on the far side of Santa and they took a decent picture of us. Then Sofia told Santa about the horse set.

After Lilly and Chloe had a visit with Santa, we walked around the rest of the shop before going to Uncle Buck's for dinner. It was such a great night to enjoy the experience with fun friends!

Sofia riding a reindeer

Olivia was a little less certain of riding a reindeer

Craft time with Lilly and Chloe

Sofia starts her "Dear Santa" letter

"Dear Santa, I would like a horse set..."

Friends

Sofia sees the horse set that she's going to ask Santa for!

Santa!

Spending a little extra time chatting Santa up

Olivia on the loose

Three reindeer at the North Pole!