Riding the Polar Express

In Williams, AZ the Grand Canyon Railway train turns into the Polar Express every holiday season.  We ventured up north for the train ride the Thursday and Friday before Christmas.  The kids had been watching the Polar Express movie for quite awhile before so they were very excited about riding on the train!  We headed out Thursday afternoon and had an enjoyable 4 hour drive.  It was fun to see snow on the ground as we headed further and further north.  All Kennedy kept saying about the snow was that she wanted to make a snow angel.  Apparently, Tigger on the show Tigger and Pooh made a snow angel that left quite an impression on Kennedy.

We got to our hotel and checked in and then headed off to the restaurant by the train depot for dinner.  There was a miniature train that went around the entire dining room which entertained the kids for quite awhile.  Then it was off to see Santa before our train departed.  McGuire was so excited to see him, until it was actually our turn and then he cried and cried.  Kennedy and Zach both sat on Santa's lap and had a great time!

We loaded up on our train and they brought us cookies and hot chocolate.  The kids LOVED it!  A few minutes into the ride, the Polar Express story begins.  The kids weren't as interested in this as they were watching the dark shadows out the window (by this time, it was about 8:45 pm).  We came upon the North Pole and the kids were so excited about all the lights and buidlings they saw.  As we headed back to the depot, they asked if any kids wanted to lead the train car in song.  Kennedy, without hesitation, headed up front and asked for the microphone.  Unfortunately, the lady thought she didn't really know the songs and called another boy up there to help.  We were still so proud of Kennedy as she stood in front of 50 people and smiled her beautiful smile and sang as best she could!

Santa entered our train car, which made the kids so excited!  McGuire stood on his bench, jumped up and down waving and yelled non-stop things like, "Hi, Santa!"  "Hi, Santa Claus!"  "Over here Santa!" "Santa, SANTA!" It was so hilarious and even had the people around us laughing at his excitement!  Once we got off the train, we headed back to see Santa to try to get a picture of the kids with Guire smiling.  The photographer even remembered our family and was amazed at the change in Guire's attitude as he stood by Santa and flashed is huge smile!

We had a great evening and wonderful day.  We stopped at a deer farm on the way home.  We were all surrounded by deer as we walked in with our cup of food.  The kids eventually got enough courage to feed them out of their hands.  One deer started to eat Zach's blanket and the back of my coat!  We also finally found a place for Kennedy to do her snow angel.  She was SO happy!  She started throwing snow at Rich until she realized it was making her hands really cold and then she started crying and was ready to go!  Fun memories!!