Lapland Day 3 Search For Santa

Day 3 and you guessed it, another early start as we headed on another coach trip about an hour North of the resort into the remotest, isolated woodland area I have ever seen. The icy/snowy roads were just incredible and I was in complete awe at the coach driver getting through some of the forest roads which I wouldn't have even attempted in a car (let alone a coach). Anyway the purpose of this trip was in search of the real Santa and for this we visited his actual home in Lapland. Once there the exploration started and our first stop was a hut called the "Elf Academy".

 

The Elf Academy.

Inside the elf academy the kids firstly all got to sit at little school desks where an Elf taught them the Elfabet by helping fill in the missing festive words.

 

Anyone know a word in the Elfabet for the letter "I" and "J"?

 

In the elf academy the elves had already started loading up Santa's sleigh ready for Christmas Eve,

The next job in the Elf Academy was to help another elf build some of the toys for Santa to deliver. The boys both loved this and very quickly got into assembling the wooden blocks. Watching the boys building toys with Santa's elves was one of the priceless, magical moments of the holiday. Just seeing their faces and seeing them so happy looking for Santa and helping elves.

Brandon and Joshua building toys with the elves.

Joshua gets a wheel fitted on his toy.

The next hut to search was Santa's post office, but not before we have posted our letters inside Santa;s official post box.

Me and the boys at Santa's post box.

The boys sitting on the steps of Santa's post box.

Mummy and Brandon heading into Santa's post office in search of the big man in red.

This was the elf working in the post office sorting the millions of letters. Magically Joshua and Brandon letters were already in Santa's post office!

Behind the post office is Santa's office. Unfortunately he the big man in red was not in here either. So Brandon decided to test out Santa's chair for size!!! 

Brandon sitting in Santa's office chair.

Santa's desk in his office with his globe and maps so he knows what route to take.

After the post office we headed into the Elves bedroom where the boys saw an elf playing a small board game on the floor. The room had a few small bunk beds in with a washing line full of miniature sized socks hanging on it. But no Santa here either. So we then moved onto Santa's bedroom.

Above Santa's bed he has this huge chest hanging up which we are told contains all of the magic powder.

But still no Santa. So next port of call was the kitchen area. This was another one of those special moments where the boys got to decorate some really tasty ginger bread cookies with one of Santa's elf's. All the kiddies loved doing this and all walked out of the kitchen area chomping away on their magic cookie in hope that Mrs Clause had used some magic powder which would make them fly like Rudolph. 

Brandon adding some pink icing to his cookie.

Joshua going to work with his tube of icing.

Adding the finishing touches before passing his cookie to Daddy and asking the elf for a plain one to eat (cheeky Brandon).

A proper ginger bread house made by Mrs Clause.

This was the elf in Santa's kitchen who helped the children make the cookies.

As you would expect all of Santa's reindeer's have stables and pens to run around in at Santa's home. The boys are now starting to learn all 8 names for the reindeer's.



In between the search for Santa there is always time for a quick snow ball fight.

After searching everywhere the kiddies were all looking a bit disappointed at the fact that they had not managed to find the real Santa. So everyone started singing a few Christmas carols in hope that Santa would appear before it was time to board our coach. After two or three Christmas carols the magic worked and from out of no where Santa appeared. This was another magical moment for the kiddies as they all charged over to the big man screaming at the top of their voices. 

Finally we found the real Santa.

So mission complete and we had finally found Santa in his very own home. We all headed back to the hotel very happy but very hungry after a busy morning. For the afternoon we had booked a 3 hour family snow mobile trip across the frozen lakes out to a Lap hut. I was pretty worried about this given the previous days experience on a snow mobile when Tina and the boys didn't really enjoy the fumes and found the bumps in the trailer very uncomfortable. Furthermore it was dark by the time we went out and the snow was coming down pretty thick and fast.

 

But before going out on the snow mobile we all had to get fitted up with balaclava's and crash helmets. 

Brandon all wrapped up and looking like a bank robber.

Joshua raring to go with his crash helmet, just needs some goggles now.

How big does that helmet look on Brandon?

Me and the boys testing the helmets by banging heads together,

Last bit of the kit is some goggles and of course Brandon gets yellow.

Tina and the boys getting into the snow mobile trailer.

Brandon having a go at sitting on the snow mobile. For safety reasons the kids were not allowed to drive or be a passenger on the actual snow mobile. They could only ride in the trailer.

Joshua and Brandon having a try on our snow mobile.

In the end I had no need to worry about Tina or the boys. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the snow mobile ride and in fact the boys found the trailer so warm and comfortable that they both had a nap en route to the Lap hut. It was pretty incredible driving across frozen lakes doing about 50kph in the dark with snow hammering it down. Having the boys on board I did not feel safer going any faster as the snow mobile does tend to drift a little and does not have precise steering by any means. We had one slight hiccup where the snow mobile got stuck on a hill just before we arrived at the Lap hut for our warm berry juice and ginger bread cookies. This proved to be good fun as it involved me and another guy unhitching the trailer and then dragging the snow mobile over onto  some fresh snow to get some traction, then pulling the trailer up the hill to reconnect to the snow mobile!

All 4 of us in the Lap hut and receiving our certificates for driving a snow mobile successfully.

On the way back Tina decided to have a go at driving the snow mobile and I was relegated to the trailer with the boys. Even riding in the trailer was good fun as you still get the thrill of the speed but get to take in some of the stunning scenery.In between each ice lake we had to meander through some forestry areas. Incidentally we found out that the lakes have to be around 4m thick of ice before the snow mobiles can go out on them!!! 

 

The day wasn't over yet. Despite everything we had done today the boys still had enough energy to squeeze in an hour of bowling after dinner. Although they were definitely showing signs of being tired and they started to get a bit irritable towards the end of the session.

Joshua looking down the Levi bowling alley.

Look at muscles Brandon. 20 years time this will be the Atlas stones in Worlds Strongest Man.

And he even managed to lift the ball up onto the frame all on his own.

Me and my Little B.

Our Lapland holiday just kept getting better and better. Check back for Day 4 when we visited an amazing ice hotel, went for a swim and then finished of the day with a Christmas Feast and another Santa encounter.