Storyland/Santa's Village 2011 part deux

I have so many great childhood memories of my own from going away with my dad to storyland and Santa's village from when I was a kid....I remember one time we went there towards the end of August when he was on vacation....and we stayed in this little motel that had a playground outside....and Kris and I were really excited to play on the playground...maybe even more so than go to Santa's Village....my dad got upset. I am one hundred percent sure that he will think I am crazy for thinking that this hyappened. But it did.


But I just love Santa's village. I remember, however, that when we were kids there was a 'trained parrot' show we saw...those parrots must have long since died. Oh well. I think it is cool to sort of pass the torch along to Callum and Maira, and now bring MY kids to a place I once went as a lad. And I have NOOOOO desire to go to Disney. At any point. Hate heat. Hate lines. Hate spending 100 dollars to drive a pretend car around.


At Storyland on Sunday, Clifford the big red dog made an appearance....Callum knew this and had looked forward to it for weeks and weeks....UNTIL, that is, Clifford manifested himself in all his six foot glory. Then Callum retreated into his shell. I dont blame him. Kind of creepy costume if you looked up close....The Picture Place.....
A great even from the weekend that I DONT have pictures of is the Attitash/Bear Peak Oktoberfest Anthony and I attended....you pay ten bucks to get in....you get a couple of free samples...and then you buy tokens to get full pints of some great local stuff. On tap from Maine was Shipyard. Some great NH and VT breweries were there too: Long Trail Brewing, Tuckerman's Brewing, Woodstock Brewery (Thurston and I's favorite Pig's Ear Brown Ale!), and, our personal favorite of the event, Moat Mountain Brewery. I actually did some research to find where in Maine I could get some. I was successful! Immediately, Moat works its way into at least my top five beermakers of all time. Excellent stuff. Oh, and did I mention Narragansett was there? And they DIDNT come in last place!! Seriously....

Jackson having a great time on the antique German carousel....
I think was trip # 4 in a row for Callum.....giving me a high five as we rode....
And in the small section of Storyland that actually IS dedicated to classic children's stories (come on....I'm an Englishy book nerd...you knew I was going to say that....) we had none other than Miss Muffett and her tuffet (whatever the heck a tuffet is....) and the spider. Have I mentioned how much Callum LOVES spiders? He does. And we have SO many around our house.....outside of course....
And at the end of a long day, Callum loves looking at pictures with his Nannie.....