bass pro shop

The kids love our annual visit to the Bass Prop Shop to see Santa!  We have had good years and bad years as far as waits go, and this year would definitely go on the bad list.  The store opens at 10 AM, so last year we arrived at 9:30 (without Kevin, who was at Grandpa GG's funeral), waited in line for 30 minutes, and received a pass for the 10:30 group. That seemed easy enough!  We just did some of the activities they provided, checked out the store, and jumped in line when 10:30 rolled around.  Since that method seemed pretty flawless, we decided to do the same thing this year.  Well, our first mistake was showing up at 9:45.  As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I saw that there wasn't even a line.  I was confused because the website said that they opened at 10, but apparently the store opened at 9 AM, so people started putting their name on the list at that time.  Santa wasn't supposed to arrive until 10, so by that time, he was technically already an hour behind with all the people who had signed in.  

We added our name to the list using their little kiosk, and our wait time was estimated at 2 hours and 5 minutes.  I was a little annoyed that this wasn't explained on their website, but we decided to stay anyway. Kevin was stressed out because he was giving his first High Council talk the next day, he had't written much of it, and he needed to translate it into Spanish.  Since he brought his laptop with us, he headed back out to the car while I killed two hours with the kids. 

Oh, but first we took a few pictures in the lobby.  You aren't a true Texan unless you take pictures with a longhorn at Christmas, haha.

Kevin took a picture of me and the kids, and then a stranger offered to take a family picture.  I knew Kevin wasn't feeling it to begin with, which is why I hadn't even tried to include him in the first place, haha.

But here we are in our Bass Pro glory!  Kevin was sporting his laptop bag (since he didn't want to leave it sitting in the car), so I had to tease him a little about the man bag.

Colby wanted to sit on ALL the quads...

We checked out the North Pole sign, the huge fish tank, and the entire North American Big Game taxidermy collection by some hunter that I can't remember anymore. He shot all 29 big game animals, and the entire collection is on display at Bass Pro.  I've seen them in years past, but I never read the signs closely enough to realize that they were all "trophies" from the same hunter.  Along the back wall they had actual pictures of the hunter with the dead animal, and a little story about how he obtained each one.  While it was pretty fascinating reading about how he hunted the polar bear, walrus, and Mexican leopard, it was also super sad!  It makes no sense to kill a walrus, but it's all for the fun of the hunt, I guess.  The kids and I were a little sad after reading all the signs, so we headed back to the kids activity area. 

They spent time coloring, building with lincoln logs, and eventually coloring a penguin backpack "craft" that Bass Pro provided.

When it was nearing our 2 hour mark, we headed over to the kiosk to check on our status.  It still showed an hour and 15 minute wait, and I was OVER IT!  I called Kevin and we decided to head to lunch and then make our way back to the store.  It was the perfect opportunity to get out of the store and turn our focus on something else.  We ate at Chipotle, which is always a good choice.

After lunch, we checked back in and had a 30 minute wait I think. It was finally time to write their letters to Santa...

Colby asked for a bow and arrow, and Brooke asked for a tiara (a random new request), another American Girl doll, and an American Girl house (also a new request).  Doesn't she know you can't do that in the middle of the season, haha?

They dropped their letters in the cute mailbox and then I made the executive decision to just ahead to the line even though we hadn't received the "time to line up" text message yet.  The whole process was organized, but SO dang slow.  IF we will do it again next year, it will definitely not be on a Saturday! 

Just as we neared the front of the line, we received our text message which meant that they would actually let us go see the guy in red. Brooke was literally bouncing up and down with excitement. As they started walking, they grabbed hands and it melted my heart.

We stood back and tried to listen as they talked to Santa...

They received their candy canes and ONE complimentary picture, then it was off to play with the cross bow and rifles.  Neither one worked particularly well this year, so their enthusiasm was short-lived.  Kevin and I were ready to leave anyway, so it was a good excuse to get going. 

I am a total sucker for tradition, but the long wait kind of killed it for me this year.  I mean, those three minutes with Santa WERE pretty great, and I loved watching them write their letters, but the three hour wait was a huge patience tester,  It's a good thing we love our kids so much :)