BASS PRO SANTA

From right after Thanksgiving up 'til Christmas Eve, Bass Pro Shop has a "Santa's Wonderland" in every store. Santa is there, of course, and then there all kinds of toys and crafts that are set up to entertain the children. At certain times each day, Santa is available for having pictures taken with him. Today, he was going to be available starting at 10:00am. We thought, rather than going to a local mall, this would be a much more fun and enjoyable experience for Luke. So by 9:00, we were all loaded up in the car and heading out, to hopefully beat the crowds that were sure to grow throughout the day. We arrived at just a little past 10:00, and once we were inside the store we were overwhelmed by everything that Bass Pro Shop is about...forget Santa. The store is an adventure in itself. The HUGE freshwater aquarium they have (waterfall and stuffed wildlife included) could have kept Luke's attention for hours. But, we had to stay focused, so we set out to find "Santa's Wonderland". So much for beating the crowd. The line to see Santa was already beginning to wind around towards the back of the store. We took our place and waited. Both boys, of course, were very well behaved. We actually were only in line about 40 minutes. Along the way, we got to sample fudge, watch little kids try to drive a remote control truck, enjoy a model train set - Luke just couldn't get enough of the "Choo-Choo", and check out a miniature Nascar race track... lots to see while we waited. And then it was the boys turn. Luke climbed right up and started talking to Santa about the reindeer that was over Santa's left shoulder. We then got him turned around and seated on Santa's left leg, and we put Grey on Santa's right leg. Sadly, I think the teen-age photographer, took about 2 seconds to try to get the boys attention before she took the picture.

So even though we have no smiles, at least they weren't crying. And the picture (a 4x6) was free. This isn't even the original photo that was taken. I came home and did some editing to try to make the quality a little better. They gave you options of purchasing packages, but if all the photos they were taking were as poor in quality as ours, I doubt they sell very many of them.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. Both boys were SO good, and Luke really got a kick out of everything he saw. As we were leaving, we decided we will definitely go back after the holiday season, on a weekday, so we can really see all that this incredible store has to offer.