We had a couple first time holiday adventures planned today; visiting reindeer at the 7-Dee's Nursery, and our first ever trip to the Alpenrose Dairyville Storybook Lane. We usually do the same few things every year; visit Santa downtown and see the tree, go to Peacock Lane, and drive through Portland International Raceway to see the lights. This year I decided I wanted to add a couple new things to the list, and these two along with another Storybook Lane in Forest Grove, were what I came up with during my internet searches.
Matthew had to work a late shift today, but he was able to join us on our trip to see the reindeer. It was a really cold day, and the kids weren't as interested as I though they would be so we only stayed about 15 minutes. But that was long enough to see everything there was...twice! There were just two reindeer, Dasher and Blitzen:
The kids posed on two sides for pictures:
We learned a little about reindeer at a small stand, and also got to hold antlers and feel a reindeer hide (its surprisingly soft). That was all there was to do though, so I don't think this is something that we would do again, at least not on a yearly basis.
Matthew headed to work and we headed to pick up Jeanne to go to Alpenrose. I had never been to the Storybook Lane, but apparently its been around for years and years (a good deal of people I know have said they remember going as kids). Its been closed due to financial reasons for the past 6 years, so when Jeanne heard it was going to be open again this year she asked if we would take her. We were excited to see what all the fuss was about!
Its kind of cute the way they have it set up, like a little town with a whole bunch of different buildings all decorated as different kinds of shops; a barber shop, a dentist, a schoolhouse, a bank. The outsides of all the stores were decorated for Christmas, and very festive looking:
They have one of the bigger buildings decorated with hundreds of Christmas trees and lights, and little houses with different animal occupants:
Mostly 4-H type animals, we saw duck and chicken houses, rabbits and goats, a donkey and goats. This is the chicken house:
They also had houses for the cutest animals there to explore:
After we walked through, Jeanne and the kids staked out a bench while I went to get everyone hot chocolate.
We walked around a little bit more, and then headed home. I think its a cute idea, with all the houses to look at, but a lot of them were empty or were closed so you couldnt go inside, which was kind of disappointing. The whole place had sort of a run down feel, which is understandable since its been around so long, but we just weren't that impressed. Like the reindeer before, I don't think we would make this part of our regular holiday adventures, but both were great for an afternoon of new experiences and fun!
Matthew had to work a late shift today, but he was able to join us on our trip to see the reindeer. It was a really cold day, and the kids weren't as interested as I though they would be so we only stayed about 15 minutes. But that was long enough to see everything there was...twice! There were just two reindeer, Dasher and Blitzen:
The kids posed on two sides for pictures:
We learned a little about reindeer at a small stand, and also got to hold antlers and feel a reindeer hide (its surprisingly soft). That was all there was to do though, so I don't think this is something that we would do again, at least not on a yearly basis.
Matthew headed to work and we headed to pick up Jeanne to go to Alpenrose. I had never been to the Storybook Lane, but apparently its been around for years and years (a good deal of people I know have said they remember going as kids). Its been closed due to financial reasons for the past 6 years, so when Jeanne heard it was going to be open again this year she asked if we would take her. We were excited to see what all the fuss was about!
Its kind of cute the way they have it set up, like a little town with a whole bunch of different buildings all decorated as different kinds of shops; a barber shop, a dentist, a schoolhouse, a bank. The outsides of all the stores were decorated for Christmas, and very festive looking:
They have one of the bigger buildings decorated with hundreds of Christmas trees and lights, and little houses with different animal occupants:
Mostly 4-H type animals, we saw duck and chicken houses, rabbits and goats, a donkey and goats. This is the chicken house:
They also had houses for the cutest animals there to explore:
After we walked through, Jeanne and the kids staked out a bench while I went to get everyone hot chocolate.
We walked around a little bit more, and then headed home. I think its a cute idea, with all the houses to look at, but a lot of them were empty or were closed so you couldnt go inside, which was kind of disappointing. The whole place had sort of a run down feel, which is understandable since its been around so long, but we just weren't that impressed. Like the reindeer before, I don't think we would make this part of our regular holiday adventures, but both were great for an afternoon of new experiences and fun!