So, we took about an 85 mile drive north up to Shelton, CT to get our Christmas Tree. Personally, I'm at a point where I'm totally ok with getting a fake Christmas Tree. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like a real tree... It's just kind of sad, cutting down all these trees every year!! I don't know, that's just what I'm feeling right now. However, because the whole Christmas Tree thing is a big experience for Garrick, oh boy... he takes it very seriously, I doubt my fake tree will ever fly anytime soon! Maybe I'll have to wait until he enters his mid-life crisis & I'm in charge of this tree thing (just kidding! I doubt that happens too). :)

So, this is our 5th year getting a tree together now... And, I think the 5th tree that I have NOT chosen!! I guess you gotta pick & choose your battles & picking a tree is not a battle I'm going to prioritize. Garrick & I just have different ideas of what type of trees we like... And with a variety of 6 different types of trees & thousands to choose from, you better bet we looked at hundreds of trees! Covered a whole side of a mountain... But, FINALLY (2 hours later... haha!!!), we found THE ONE!

We did have fun though, we were definitely on an adventure with the three kids. The Jones Christmas Tree farm was by far the best Christmas Tree farm I have ever been to!! It's an experience... and everyone was so festive & nice! There is something really refreshing when you can go to a happy place like this & hear people belt out a nice, hardy, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Throw out the "politically correct 'Happy Holidays'", we're on a CHRISTMAS tree farm after all. :)

After the tree hunt & Garrick making sure the tree was successfully fastened to the car, we headed down to the tree village where we sampled some of their wine (it's a vineyard too), and ate Trail Mix cookies with hot apple cider. After that we went to a nice little town (I'm unsure of the name), but we went to this great restaurant where we had a Lobster Roll, Fish & Chips and a hot dog for the kids - the food was great!

We got home kind of late, but finished off the day by decorating our tree! More pics of that to come later...

Oh yeah & Connecticut now brings our states-visited totals to...

Garrick - 26 states

Dana - 25 states

Aubree - 20 states

Preston - 14 states

Baylee - 3 states

Garrick's a Mountain man! ;)

I like how Garrick is looking at this tree like it's in contention to be chosen... 'Oh yes, let's take this one for our other house... the mansion with the 25-foot ceilings' hahaha... :)

Preston decided to take a little rest... ^

The search for the "perfect" tree continues...

The kids & I took a break while Garrick continued the search...

And... finally! There she is.... :)

Aubs was scared that the tree would fall on us!!!

Very interesting... Preston looks like he got in a brawl. He fell quite a few times & a couple times right on his cute little face! :(

My boys.

Hey Frosty!!!

By the way, CT was GORGEOUS!!! We have a friend, Eli who is from CT, I'm happy we got a chance to visit his home state. We're going to go back to Norwalk to visit their aquarium... Preston LOVES sharks!!! :)