Christmas Lights…a whole bunch of them…and more

Santa’s Wonderland is opening for the season tonight (November 20th, 2009). If you’ve been before, there are many exciting additions for your return visit. If you’ve never been, it’s worth a trip.

The park opens daily at 6pm from November 20th until December 31st.

Check the website at www.santas-wonderland.com for live music schedule, food menu, prices and advanced tickets.

New Visitors:
Advanced tickets: With a discount if you buy online at Santas-Wonderland.com

2.5 Million Lights: Yeah, a bunch of lights. Nothing like you’ll see strung on anyone’s house. There’s a river of lights, a couple of tunnels of lights, some animations created with lights, houses covered with lights. Lots of “OOH’s” and “AAH’s”.

Hayrides: A trailer with hay on it driving through the park. Really nice view of everything.

Horse and Carriage Ride: This is what I think is the Crowning Jewel. The ride is so romantic and nostalgic and cool. Don’t miss this. It’s really nice. Two huge black horses lead a large carriage that fits up to 9 people.

Food: Loads of food…from nachos to kettle corn to hot chocolate.

Live Music: From Country to Elvis to a full choir. Live music every night.

Petting Zoo: Yes, there’s even a petting zoo.

Mechanical Bull: And a mechanical bull. I wonder what Santa’s record is.

Christmas Stores: Everything from ornaments to stocking stuffers.

Fun: Something to remember and make a tradition to come back every year.

Returning Visitors:
Advanced tickets: With a discount if you buy online at Santas-Wonderland.com

More parking: In fact, parking across the HWY and a shuttle to get you to the park.

Horse and Carriage option: They have added a Horse and Carriage ride, and let me tell you, I’ve been on the Hayride and on the Horse and Carriage, and hands down, the Horse and Carriage ride is the best. Really captures the feel of the season and the park. I just loved it. You won’t regret it.

More Lights: More lights are up this year, and a few new “scenes” to enjoy.

Funnel Cakes: Yeah, and they are really tasty.

More Food: Check the website for the new menu.

Go check it out.

Santa’s Wonderland Launches Cool New Site

I know it’s not the Christmas season yet, but I wanted to write abouta new website just launched by a local attraction that’s been here for over 12 years. It’s pretty much a landmark…especially if you drive by at night during the season.

Santa’sWonderland is that place on HWY 6 on the way to Navasota with all the lights and the Old West looking town. You’re sure to have seen it if you drive by during the Christmas Season. It’s a beautiful site. It’s the most lights I’ve ever seen in one place. They actually made “walls” of lights. Pretty cool. Well, if you haven’t been, you should check it out this year. It’s not open yet, but they will be selling advance tickets pretty soon. They are opening on November 20th.

They asked me to help them work on their website…both the Santa’s Wonderland and the Santa’s Town website. The artwork was created by a Santa’s Wonderland family memeber. It’s really a beautiful site. There’s snow falling, flickering lanterns, photos and all the information you need to learn about Santa’s Wonderland.

They’re scheduling live music, they have a mechanical bull, a petting zoo, and of course, hayrides and vehicle tours through the lights.

They told me they added a bunch more lights this year, and have added some LED lights and worked out some of the parking issues as well.

They have shops, a cafe and so much for the whole family. They even play various Christmas Movies at Santa’s Town. Check out the Santa’s Wonderland website for more information.

We’re still updating some of the pages on the site, so check back for more information. I’ll be writing another post once they schedule the live music events for the season, so stay tuned.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Lippman Music – Guitars, Amps and More…

I just finished working on the Lippman Music Website, and it looks great.

Lippman Music has been here for a long time, and they are just a block from the A&M Campus. They’ve got everything from Fender, Takamine and Alvarez guitars, to full drum sets, guitar strings, bass guitars, effects pedals and just about everything you need for your guitar or band or whatever.

I take my acoustic Seagull in there to get  their $25 “setup” which takes care of the action, intonation and they’ll even restring it.

I took my Red Star Rlectric Hondo Revival in there to get some electronics fixed, and I’m pretty certain they had a chuckle about the 80s metal type guitar I brought in, they were helpful, had great advice and didn’t treat me like I had no idea what I was doing (even though I really don’t know what I’m doing)

You know how it is, you walk into a music store, and unless your arms are sleeved with tattoos and your hair is halfway down your back, you don’t get too much respect. Even if you are wanting to buy an $8000 Martin Guitar or a full Marshal stack.

Maybe if you were famous of something.

The funny thing is, there are so many Worship Leader guitar players who need service at music stores, who don’t look like rock stars, many music stores will lose their business if they keep treating musicians like they do.

Well, at Lippman Music, I haven’t gotten that treatment. They are attentive to their customers, and always helpful. Matt (a history major) knows quite a bit about guitars and can advise you on what you might like. Brian (the owner) is a great guy. He knows what to keep in stock, and makes sure what’s in stock is really good quality. He knows his stuff.

They teach lessons, have drumsticks, wood instrument reeds, do amp repair, sell picks, Elixer guitar strings, shakers, rent sound systems…check out the Lippman Music website. Or better still, go in and check out what they’ve got.

jorge

What to do on Your Anniversary

OK, so today is our 14th anniversary. We’ve got a few errands to run, and we’re down to 2 kids this week (the two older ones are with their grandmother).

We’ve decided not to have a babysitter and take the kids with us in whatever adventure happens tonight.

1. OK, first things first…I took out the trash. I also cut the fat off the chicken we were going to freeze. My wife’s love language is Acts of Service, so I think the day started well. Oh, and I gave her a card that said all the right stuff.

2. We need to go to the library because we have some overdue videos. (those are $1 each day they are overdue by the way).

3. Next thing we want to do is go to Hobby Lobby. We have this wooden elephant that kinda got handed down to my wife, but the tusks are gone. We looked up what the gift for the 14th anniversary is and the traditional gift is ivory. Well, last I heard, buying ivory is illegal, so we’re gonna go and see if we can find something that resembles 2-3 inch long elephant tusks. Maybe they’ll have a cool mirror on sale at like 80% of or something. (the modern 14th anniversary gift is Gold Jewelery and my wife doesn’t like gold. She likes nickel free!

4. Starbuck’s Vanilla Latte. It’s right across the parking lot.

5. I’m thinking about Fish Taco’s at La Bodega. They have really yummy quesadillas and rice and beans for the kids and we can use one of our coupons.

5. Cafe Capri for their chocolate toffee mousse with kahlua. I think we are going to need a whole piece each…well, we’ll each share a few bites with each of our kids. I just took another look at their menu and I might be considering the Cajun Tortelini. Yum.

6. We will probably go to Post Oak Mall to Victoria’s Secret (me and the kids will be at the little soft play park in the food court). Leigh received a coupon in the mail for free Panties…yay!

7. We’ll hang out a little while at the soft play park in the mall. We like watching our kids play. Plus we’ll get to talk a little.

8. If we feel like we need to talk a little more, maybe we’ll go to Wolf Pan Creek walk around a bit…holding hands of course.

9. Maybe rent a Redbox movie. Unless we get our NetFlix rental arrives today…John & Kate plus Eight is coming next.

But first, I have to work making websites and graphics and logos and flash games and stuff.

jorge

$6000 Worth of Savings in a Bryan and College Station Coupon Book

I was called the other day, about 3 weeks ago, and they were offering one of those coupon books. I asked them to give me a week to think about it and I went to their website.

I wanted to find out what the restaurants and services were being offered. Turns out, it’s a great variety, not just a bunch of Jack-In-The-Box and Chik-Fil-A coupons.

Basically it’s a bunch of buy-one-get-one-free coupons for restaurants around town, as well as some pretty good coupons for services and entertainment stuff around town. And it was only $40.00. That’s pretty good.

There are 370 offers from 200 businesses, including 180 “2 for 1″ offers from 90 restaurants, “2 for 1″ entertainment & golf, free & 50% off merchandise & services, and all 370 offers are valid through July 31, 2009.

Here are some of the restaurants:

Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar
Cafe Eccell
Caffe Capri Italian Restaurant
Carino’s Italian Grill
Carter’s Burger
Cenare Italian Restaurant
Chef Cao’s Restaurant
Chicken Oil Co.
Cowboy Cafe
Dixie Chicken Saloon
Doc Green’s Salads & Grill
Edge Cafe, The
Filling Station Restaurant
Fitzwilly’s Bar & Grille
Fredrickos
Garpez Authentic Mexican Food
Gatti Town
Haiku Sushi Habachi Grill
Hampton’s Cafe
Harvey Washbangers
J-Cody’s Steaks & BBQ
Johnny Carino’s
Junek’s Barbeque Grill
Ken Martin’s Safari Grille
Kettle-American’s Kitchen
Kyoto Japanese Sushi Restaurant
La Bodega Baja Taco Bar
La Riviera Restaurant & Bakery
Lakeside Ice House & Grill
Las Lomas Mexican Grill
Laurie P’s BBQ
Los Molcajetes Mexican Food
Los Nortenos Cafe
Margarita Rocks
Margie’s Bar & Grill
Martin’s Place BBQ
Pyro Mongolian Fusion Grill
Seafood House
Shannon’s Cafe
Square One Restaurant
Tampico Taqueria
Taquerias Arandas
Texas Road House
Veritas Wine & Bistro
Vintage House Restaurant (At Messina Hof Winery)
Wrangler Steak House

See their website for the full listing. It’s a pretty good list.

So, I suggest you call them up and get one. It not only benefits you, but it also benefits the Bryan High School Viking Band Booster Club and the A&M Consolidated “Young Farmers” FFA Booster Club.

Their phone number is 979-774-3890.

We just received ours in the mail this week…woohoo!