July 18, 2011 - Day 10 of Vacation - A trip to North Pole

We got up on Monday morning with plans to check out some of the tourist things in Fairbanks North Star Borough.  We were going to head to North Pole then lunch then a bunch more things.

MS had slept with Nana and Tata so she was one of the first up.  She had cinnamon french toast and strawberries for breakfast.

After breakfast we got dressed and while waiting for us, ST played on the stairs a bit with her Daddy's old Fisher Price barn.  I took 6 cornish game hens out of the freezer to thaw so JW could cook them for dinner.

Then we piled into the trucks and drove the 22 miles to North Pole, AK.

We stopped by the reindeer pen to check out the reindeer.  Rudolph was no where to be found - later,, we found out that most of Santa's reindeer spend the summer in Palmer, AK at the reindeer farm.  We didn't have time to stop by there on Friday the 15th when we were heading home.  darn.

Then the girls posed by a couple of scenes on the Santa House.

We entered the Santa House and went to where Santa's chair is.  Oh no, we had chosen Monday to visit and found out that Santa was out on Sunday and Monday.  We would have to make another trip back down to see the Jolly Old Fellow but since he was out, each of the girls were able to try out his chair.

Aren't they the 3 cutest elves ever.

After taking pictures, we spent about an hour walking through the Santa Claus house to see what we should buy.  There are all kinds of neat Christmas things there and also other knick knacks.  I found a nativity set that I really liked - just might have to go down and get it later this year - we'll see.

JM checked out the fudge and couldn't decide between the rock road or the mint.  I left Tata (JW) with her to help her get some fudge while I went to pay for my little caribou and JM's mama moose.

We finally all drifted towards the door.  JW had a box of fudge - I guess they couldn't decide between mint and rocky road so he decided to buy both.  Then they told him if he bought 3, he would get a 4th free so his box contained mint, rocky road, dark chocolate with almonds and a white fudge with pecans.

JW and I took the 2 older girls in our truck and we headed back to Fairbanks to have lunch at Carl's Jr.  On the way into town, we could tell how tired the girls were.  So, we made an executive decision that instead of doing more sight seeing around Fairbanks, we would eat and go home for a quiet afternoon.

We just kind of vegged for a while then JW started cooking the cornish game hens.  I messed around with pictures a while and the older girls chose some pictures they wanted printed for their little Alaska photo albums.

When the game hens were about done.  It was time to cook MS's arctic grayling for her to eat for dinner.  You can tell it's an arctic grayling by the huge top fin.

When we sat down to dinner, MS enjoyed her fish - yummy.  Of course, she let everyone have a bit so they would know what it tasted like.

After dinner and dishes we just hung out.  Tinkerbell had been kind of elusive since we returned.  She spent most of her time outsside but I drug her in so she could get acquainted with the granddaughters.  They each fed her a few treats but ST was the one who most wanted to get her hands on the kittty.

JW protecting Tink from little hands.

ST kissing Tinkerbell good night - Tink didn't like that too much.  Then it was off to bed for all of us as there was lots to do the next day.  Only 4 more days to see Alaska.