Day 3…a very merry day!

Today we visited the North pole!  We went to Santa's workshop in Wilmington.  you may have seen earlier but I will repeat it here!  I gave Ty his clothes to go get dressed so we could leave and he said, “I can not wear shorts to the north pole i will be cold!”

As we started to leave the campground it began to rain.  It was a light annoying rain that followed us the entire way.  But i finally get to use Emma’s really cute raincoat!

I had been to the north pole before when i was Tyler's age or a slight bit older.  I don’t remember a lot but I know I had a great time.  I have been reading up on the park and learned that its the oldest park in the country.  The owners intention is for it to stay true to its roots.  I am sure that if we pull photos out from when we all went as kids things will look the same.  It really works well with the magic/spirit of Christmas.

But one thing that has changed is the price!  it was $63.00 for all of us to get into the park.  And like any park, everyplace you turn you can spend lots more.  But this is what vacations are about!!!

Once inside the park we started having a good time!  We went on a train ride, the carousal, and saw Santa's sleigh.

 

Then came our kids favorite thing… the animals!  seriously people, put a rabbit and a cow in a garage and my kids would go nuts! 

   

Tyler was so excited to feed the reindeer, Emma wanted to eat the crackers!

They have a cute baby one that was sleeping.

Just outside the barn Emma went crazy for this……

Yes a regular old bunny like we have at home!  $63 to watch a bunny!  Then Tyler feed the baby cow!

And Emma found her pig pen friends.

the rest of the time around the park she was making pig noises.  On the way out of the barn area Tyler was so excited to see that Santa has a garden like us!

After we finally got away from the animals, we made some important stops!  The hat maker, Mrs. clause cookies and talked to the talking tree.

Look at this great photo opt by the north pole!

It really is very cold!  The north pole was outside Santa's house!  He was home when we arrived!  We saw the good and bad list!  We had our photo with Santa but i need to scan it in!

Here are some other photos from the park:

Candy maker.

Toy maker workshop.  Inside was a slide and Tyler helped make the toys.

    When we left the park we had intended to go up to the summit of whiteface but it was still cloudy from the rain.  They told us it was zero visibility. 

Once back at the campground, David and Tyler went golfing while Emma and i watched them with a little treat!

After a great dinner, the entire family went on hayride with boo boo.

Tomorrow we leave yogi bear park to spend a night at Lake Durant state park.  Tyler will be happy because of the fishing, i will be happy because of the quietness maybe even hear a loon!  Emma will be happy for the dirt! 

Yogi Bear has been great.  Its perfect for the kids!  The people here were very friendly they did an extra hayride and train ride for us!  I hope to come back to here or visit other yogi parks! 

Szarek Szarek how does your garden grow??

Now That i have my laptop it so much easier to catch the blog up! Stand by for lots of entries!! Here is where we stand with the the garden!!

Its been an interesting year with the weather. Due to a late frost we have lost our apples for this year. I am so disappointed with that. The Crows and turkeys ate all our corn and sunflowers 3 times ...grrrrrr. So i think that is the bad news!

Tyler has been a great help with the garden, he goes out and picks the peas and beans. He is so active now omg. Here he is leaping over the dog repeatedly.


He has finally passed his drivers test and now can drive with a minor in the gator! I dont know who was more excited him or Emma. She loves going for rides and yes she is buckled in.

Look we have acorn squash starting!!! I am so excited its has been forever since we have grown a winter squash!

This is a shot of our big garden on the right is zucchini and summer squash. In the middle are the cukes that have run a muck! the left side has some hot pepper and the acorn squash. Tyler planted a watermelon plant in the middle of that row..its growing but i dont know if there are any blooms. Also i have an eggplant but it doesnt seem to be doing too well, i have never grown or eaten eggplant so i am hope this works out.

We have baby Brussels sprouts starting!

Here are all our tomatoes. Finally we have one that has started to turn orange. I fear that all of them will turn at the same time! I had to get the plants from my inlaws because most of my seedlings didnt make it. However you see that little plant in the front? That one i grew from seeds that i saved from my inlaws heirloom tomatoes last year. It has 3 little blooms on it!! It will be an organic szarek tomatoes! we have a mix of types in the garden...Jet Star, brandywine (or is it brandyvine?) some white tomato that tyler got.

Despite the fact that i planted my peas, green and wax beans in phases, all the rows were ready within about 2 weeks of each other. we did enjoy lots of peas and beans. Tyler was very upset that we pulled them all out because he loved to pick them. so this past weekend we planted more and are hoping for a late season crop.

While we work in the garden Miss Emma likes to play with Max, but she calls him Dogie!

Isnt it refreshing to walk barefoot in the grass? I love it!!

I am so glad we decided to plant strawberries. Isnt a cute little plant?

Our first little strawberry

We have had a good year with our broccoli but the heads are not nearly as big as last year.

Max is waiting for the carrots to be ready!

Tyler was so excited to find a ladybug!

Our pumpkins and potatoes are doing well. I am hoping for a good potatoe and onion crop! we will see how it goes. well i hope you enjoyed your update!

Reflecting on 2009

Like any year we saw ups and downs during the year. I was watching the news yesterday, as they recapped the events of 2009, everything was negative. So here is my POSITIVE list:

1) We met our sister

2) we met our daughter

3) we aged well!
Kristen's 30th and Tyler's 4th Birthdays
4) we enjoyed the rewards of our blood sweat and tears

5) we celebrated with Family and remembered with family

6) we ate well

7) opened our homes to others;
Max the bunny
Pheasants

8) we were pampered and took time for ourselves

9) We tried new things
Adk animal land
1st day of preschool
David using a push mower

10) we found hidden beauty:
Chitt. falls
our garden


11) we laughed