All Aboard!

In continuing with updating on what we've been doing over the past month, this morning I'm sharing on one of our favorite Holiday excursions...going on a ride on THE POLAR EXPRESS! We went on this train ride last Sunday and had so much fun. We are so fortunate to live very close to a National Parks System railroad which holds many different themed train rides throughout the year. At Christmastime they have The Polar Express--a ride for children that includes reading the book aloud on each train car, having elves and a conductor on each car to talk to and sing with all the kids, giving out hot cocoa and cookies just like they do in the story, and arriving at "The North Pole" where Santa comes on board and gives each child a bell to ring (once again, just like in the story). A ticket for this ride is a little pricey so this isn't something we do every year, but we did it when Jaden was two, did it this year and may do it one more time before our children grow up. It is such a speical, magical experience for the kids, much like you'd expect Disney World to be. And while we know that the true meaning of Christmas isn't about santa and elves, we want our children to have fun childhood memories and traditions like this one to look back on. (Just as a side note, we do lots to incorporate Jesus and the spirit of giving into our everyday lives and at Christmas too--I'll share on that in an upcoming post!)

Here are some photos from our ride on The Polar Express:


Jaden and the lead elf on our train car. This elf really liked Jaden and not only read part of the story right at our seat next to her, but also invited her at multiple times during the ride to sing or talk into his microphone!

Here is our train conductor. At this point on the ride we blew a fuse and she had to put lanterns up throughout the train car for temporary light!

The girls looking our the windwo as we reached The North Pole!! They saw Frosty the Snowman dancing and singing, The Grinch mulling about, many elves dancing and Santa Claus on his sleigh!

Santa's little visit with our girls and Scott!

Showing their Sisterly Love!

I'm sorry I did not post this sooner this weekend; I uploaded the photos in advance and had good intentions, but we drove to Columbus Saturday afternoon and have been SUPER BUSY ever since the moment we arrived!! Look for another post later today on the exciting weekend we had!