Christmas Tree Outing '09

One of our traditions each year is to go out the day after Thanksgiving (or some time that weekend) and get our Christmas tree. Sometimes we just go to Home Depot and pick out a tree, but our best trees have always been the ones that we've cut down ourselves. And since we had Will and Christy with us we decided to make it a day outing. Luckily there was a tree farm just down the road from us, AND over the river and through the woods. It was a beautiful day so it turned out even better than we had expected.

First, to get a across the river we had to take a ferry. This ferry claims to be the oldest working ferry in the United States and I believe it. Here is everyone watching a load of cars coming across.

This thing was even paddle powered!

The kids loved being able to get out of the cars and by fortunate luck no one fell in. I think we were all more aware after loosing Mason the day before ;0)

Then, just a few more miles after the river we reached the tree farm. It was called Baldwin Farms in Richmond, KY. It was a great little farm with animals the kids could pet, free hot cocoa, a small country store, and even some reindeer antlers to try on. Not bad Waverly!

Coolidge LOVES dogs and couldn't get enough of this little guy.

The boys thought for sure this huge white rabbit must have been the Easter Bunny.

Oh, and no farm is complete without a huge dirt pile to climb!

This picture cracks me up because it looks like Coolidge just caught a whiff of ...

They even found Santa, although he looked pretty busy. As hard as they tried to pull him out to tell him what they wanted for Christmas, he just wouldn't budge.

Keep pulling Porter!

Then finally, success! We found the perfect tree, but it was a little tricky cutting it down, even though there were plenty of helpers.

And poor Will even got crushed in the process. He thought the tree was going to fall the other direction.

Oh, Christmas tree! Oh, Christmas tree!

It was a great day and we were glad that Will and Christy and kids where there to help us pick out this year's Christmas tree. We think it's our best one yet! Our tallest tree at 9 feet. And it only cost us $60. We are definitely coming back here next year. Thanks guys!

For Family Home Evening on Monday we put all the lights on the tree and Coolidge was the lucky kid to put the star on top. Although, I don't think he liked being up so high as he kept arching his back and screaming. Oh well, nothing like instilling a fear of heights in them while they're young.