The Soggy Christmas Tree Hunt (Draft)

December 1st - We were pleasantly suprised that the weather outside didn't match the weather man's prediction of 90% chance of rain ALL day. We actually saw a bit of sunshine. So we busted out the rain boots and bundled Sheldon up in countless layers. I really wanted the boys to wear Santa hats so Chris got down all the Christmas tubs. Unfortunately we only found Tyler's big Santa hat and couldn't find his infant sized one. Since Tyler couldn't match his brother he asked if he could wear his new coon skin hat.

 Every year we head to Clyde and Dales Christmas Tree Farm where a horse-drawn trolley takes you to your tree and back to the gift shop.

Trolley Ride 

 We found the large "family tree" for the living room first then continued to hunt for the smaller "kids tree" for the family room. At this point, we had lucked out and only had a few sprinkles.

Tyler looked and looked until he found the perfect one. Sheldon approved of his first Christmas tree.

Tyler insisted that he cut his tree all by himself. He wanted to be like Billy Coleman in Where the Red Fern Grows. This explained the coon skin hat.

While we were patiently waiting the weather turned very soggy. Thirty minutes later while we all stood in the rain the tree finally fell.

 Tyler was so proud of himself. The look on his face made it all worth it.

 By this time, it was dumping buckets. I headed back to the gift shop with Tyler and Sheldon on the trolley. When the trolley driver saw the tree Chris was staying behind to saw down he offered to bring back a chainsaw.

Sheldon and I warmed up in the gift shop by the wood burning stove and Tyler headed back in a tractor with a chainsaw in the bucket. Sheldon's feet aren't really this big. He had so many layers on his size 3 shoes wouldn't fit so I found a pair of size 5.

 Before we left, Tyler had to get a photo with Spencer the black lab. Our beloved black lab, Shelby, died last Thanksgiving. Our yellow lab, Cody, died when Tyler was six. We miss them both something terrible and Tyler can't wait to get a new labrador puppy. With two babies 14 months apart and a police dog that lives with us, it won't be anytime this coming year.

This video is from 2011 but Tyler wanted me to include it. Just another reason why we love this place and keep coming back even though the trees are quite spendy.