Bass Pro Santa

Last year, we didn't venture out to take Eli to see Santa (he was only 3 1/2 months old). Call us lazy, but we didn't feel like standing in line with a fussy baby. This year, we decided Eli would enjoy a visit to Santa, even though he really doesn't get the whole concept quite yet. We were going to go to the mall, but found out that the Bass Pro Shop had a Santa that was free! So, we decided this was the best Santa of all!! Plus, Eli had never been to Bass Pro, so we knew he would enjoy the experience. I looked up online that Santa "arrived" today at noon so we decided to go around 11:30am to get a good spot in line. This turned out to be a good idea because the line grew pretty long! We also ran into Sue, Kevin & Kalani who were out for the same adventure. Here are pictures of our time at Bass Pro today:

Waiting in line:

Santa is a REAL Santa with a REAL beard & a REAL Santa smile. Here is Eli's first reaction to sitting on Santa's lap:

"This guy really wants me to smile for camera....okay, I guess I will":

"Look dad, he gave me a candy cane!!":

See, he IS a smiley Santa!!:

Sidenote: since Eli has become a master walker, going out is becoming harder & harder. He will stay in the cart or stroller for awhile, but then begins to realize that there is SO much to explore! Letting him walk around is okay, as long as we follow him closely, but it's the redirecting that is the issue. As soon as you try to take his hand to walk a different direction: melt down! Because of this, you have to chose the right time to let him walk around & be prepared to leave or do some major distraction. At Bass Pro, this wasn't as much an issue as everywhere you turn is something fun to look at!

Checking out the boats:

Looking out at the lake:

Can you see the look on his face...."let me down!!":

Paranoid mama has to hold him to make sure the steel bars don't somehow break & Eli falls through....silly I know:

What could have caught his attention????:

"Yippee! A Christmas tree!!":

"Nice touch":

"Ooooo....balll!"

Some OTHER child broke this ornament off the tree....really, I swear:

Now for some pics/videos from the week. But first, a quick overview:

1) Our Parent Educator, Katie, visited on Thursday. Eli did well on his assessment & I will post about results when I receive them in the mail.
2) We had our Clarkson family pictures taken on Saturday. They will be posted on Tuesday so I will post a link then!
3) Eli has used several new words this week that I am adding to the list: "tee"=tree, eat, "uh-uh"=uh oh, baby, "choo-choo"=train, & poo poo :).
4) I got a snow day!

Eli makes this ADORABLE face where he scrunches his nose, closes his eyes & says "mmmmm":

Eli gets so excited when Ming Ming dances:

Just wearing mommy's coat:

"Do I look like a doggie??":

"I like to play with mommy's ID badges":

"Blanket is SO soft!":

We are slowly introducing the spoon to Eli. Here he is eating yogurt from a spoon:

Such a little walker now! No more crawling and he will circle around the house over & over again:



Unfortunately, he's too smart for us:

This week we will attend a play date, see the chiropractor, attend La Leche League Christmas potluck, mommy will attend work Christmas party, & mommy & daddy will attend daddy's work Christmas party! Christmas is just around the corner....Happy shopping!!!