Grandma and Papa surprised us all with tickets to the Polar Express train ride with the Mt. Hood Railroad. The adults knew about it but we kept it a secret from the kids. This isn't very easy to do when you load them into the car at lunchtime wearing their jammies. Megan was full of questions, begging to hear the surprise but she was very patient and didn't REALLY figure it out until they were handed their Polar Express golden ticket. We prepared them the week before by letting them watch the Polar Express movie several times. Joshua loved the movie and now recites things from the movie including, "All aboooaard!" It's pretty cute. He has a fascination with trains anyway so he loved every minute of it.
Joshua and Megan show their golden tickets!
Watching for the "choo choo" to arrive. You can see it coming off of his kissable puckered lips!
Happy little boy!
Megan was our little 6 year old skeptic. She wanted to know if we were REALLY going to the North Pole and if we would REALLY see Santa. We let her ponder it over in her mind.
Devin's mom and nephews also joined us. All of the kids really enjoy hanging out together so they had a lot of fun.
This might have been about the time that she learned that she would get to see Santa!
Watching for Santa to come down the aisle!
Just like the movie! Hot chocolate!
And molasses cookies!
Cute little Christmas boy! I was shocked that he was actually willing to wear his slippers. I guess if they have cars on them, he'll do just about anything.
Reading the story over the loud speaker.
The Conductor came around and punched all of the kids' tickets. Also a big hit!
Santa!
Santa sat with each kid and they were able to tell him what they wanted. He also gave each of them a jingle bell just like on his sleigh. HUGE hit! Mister likes to come up to people and say, "Eyes!" which means close your eyes and then he says, "Open!" He'll "surprise" you with just about anything just so he can play the game. This time he was so excited to show everyone his bell!
All of the kids had a great time and it was so fun to watch it through their eyes. They loved everything about it and crashed hard for the long drive home!
