Advent Day 1: Christmas Tree Farm 2012

Advent has started and we had an AWESOME time with our first activity. 

I knew that I wanted a real tree this year and I searched and searched to find a fun Christmas tree farm. 

We went to Ward Grove Tree Farm and it did not disappoint!! 

We got up early Saturday morning and started off for the farm (it was a good ways away from our house) 

The kids were SO excited on the way there which made the hour and a half drive lots of fun ;-) 

The farm offers a mule pulled wagon ride out to the field, a cozy cabin where you can drink hot chocolate by a fire and all kids get a free candy cane and coloring book when they leave. 

My kids were so excited by it all. They watched everything around them in total amazement. 

Here is the mule pulled wagon that we rode out to the field. 

Ignore Rascal's arms in his shirt, I told him to grab a jacket but he said he didn't need one. 

Maybe one day he'll learn to listen to me!

Baby A loved the mules. She had her eye on them at all times and I could not get her to look at the camera. 

Look at all the trees! 

The search for the perfect Christmas tree was on and man were the boys really into picking out the right one. 

 Scooter thought maybe this one.....

Baby A thought this one was good....

But then Rascal and Tim found this one and we all agreed on it. Look at her sweet finger pointing at it in the bottom corner of the picture above. :) 

Here are the three kids standing in front of the tree we picked. 

They cut it down for us and then hauled it back to the wagon. 

I love this picture of the boys holding the tree. 

They were not fans of holding it because of all the sap. 

I am not a big fan of this picture of me but at least it's proof I was there too. 

Waiting for the mules to pull the wagon back

Baby A kept a look out for them the whole time and when she saw them she squealed with joy!

Here they come to pick us up and load up our tree

I love this picture of her and Tim. 

She was so excited!!!

Here are the mules Kate (on the left) and Jim (on the right) 

We loaded up the wagon and headed back to the cabin for hot chocolate.

 (never mind the fact that it was near 70 degrees outside) 

We stopped for some lunch before heading back home. 

It appeared that picking out a Christmas tree was quite exhausting. 

We got it home and put it up in our dining room. 

We had to trim a few branches and they smelled so great I couldn't just toss them. 

So I found some vases and put the fresh clipped sprigs in them as a centerpiece. 

That night after dinner and the kids' showers, we let them decorate the tree. 

It's not as easy to decorate a real tree since the limbs aren't perfect and some aren't strong enough to hold the ornaments up. Even still I think they did a great job decorating the tree. 

You can bet we will be doing this every year! 

It was such an awesome family activity that we all enjoyed so much!