The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I truly love this time of year. Yes, it can be stressful and busy, but I try hard to stay focused on the meaning behind it. This past weekend was the perfect start to December. Our elf Brutus arrived Friday morning, so the boys woke up excitedly this weekend trying to find him. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day we spent outside. We also decorated our Christmas tree! On Sunday, it snowed so we decided it was the perfect evening for the Santa Experience at Pahl’s. Keep on reading for more details! Thank you for stopping by and have wonderful day:)

Saturday

The sun was out on Saturday, so we knew we had to be out too! Ryan and I had some errands to run, and we deiced to add in some fun too. First stop was coffee at Factory Man Roasting House. I had never been but will definitely be back!

We decided on the Boardman Lake Trail since it was near our errands and there were geocaches to be found.

All the geocaches around this lake are created by the same person which is pretty cool. Lucas found the first one!

Owen found number 2 and Drew found number 3:)

It was a lovely family walk!

We were all a little hungry after our hike. We made a stop at Grand Traverse Pie Company for some soup (mac and cheese too).

And, of course, I had to get a little cherry pie to go! Lucas and Owen love pie so I didn’t get much ha-ha.

Ryan and Lucas really wanted Owen and I to search for a unique geocache they found a few weeks ago. It’s located right at West Grand Traverse Bay, not too far from Grand Traverse Pie Company.

This one was tricky to find as the paper log is located in a magnetic screw right on the railing overlooking the bay. Very clever!

It was time to head home after that. I had to go outside and snap a picture of the sun setting–gorgeous!

After an easy dinner of frozen pizza, it was time to decorate our Christmas tree! We turned on Home Alone for background and Lucas and Owen especially enjoyed it. They get so excited about the ornaments and the memories they bring. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is buying them each an ornament to represent the year. They each have a little photo album with pictures that coordinate to each ornament. Stay tuned for this year’s ornaments!

Sunday

On Sunday I woke up to Brutus taking a bath in our kitchen! And some snow!

It’s the “New Year” for the Catholic church and we wanted to attend Mass to celebrate the first week of Advent. However, the snow was really falling, and we couldn’t make it out of our driveway unfortunately. They boys did get out and play in the snow while mom and dad shoveled!

The big highlight of the weekend was The Santa Experience at Pahl’s. We did this last year for the first time and knew it would become an annual tradition. This is the same place that has the pumpkin patch we go to. It’s at a farm about 40 minutes away.

We walked in the front store and bought our tickets. There were not too many people there so that was nice. The boys enjoy looking at all the trinkets and goodies for sale. The young lady told us all we needed to know and directed us first to a little building where you could write a letter to Santa Claus. However, we had already written ours the other day. The boys love going down their big tunnel slide, so they did that a few times. Then it was time to head toward the hayride!

They have a small, decorated barn to wait in, but we didn’t have to wait, the tractor was ready for us! I did snap of quick picture of Owen.

We had the tractor ride all to ourselves which the boys loved! It takes you into the woods through the snow (I highly recommend doing this in the snow by the way, that’s why Ryan and I decided to go Sunday night!). They have some little decorations and lights to look at on the way. The boys were excited to say the least!

When the tractor arrives to Santa’s cabin he comes out and waves hello. They were beaming, especially Owen saying “Hi Santa! Hi Santa!” It was the best.

Santa Claus welcomed us, and we followed him inside his cozy little cabin. There is a wood burning stove, two Christmas trees, and other sweet homemade decorations. It looks, smells, and feels like Christmas. Santa took his time with each boy, talking with them, asking what they would like for Christmas. Of course, we made sure to take some photos.

After saying our goodbyes to Santa, we headed outside to the big bonfire where we enjoyed some hot cocoa.

We also snapped one more family photo before getting back on the hayride.

The boys wanted to look at the animals in the barn. The baby goats were adorable, and the baby alpaca was very friendly! We had to snap some selfies.

The snow was starting to fall again, and we took in the lights one more time before leaving. Such a special night!