The Polar Express

Two years ago we went on the Polar Express, which is the Grand Canyon Express that they transform into the Polar Express for a couple months at Christmastime. It was such a blast and even though the kids were little, (Kate was almost 2 and Matthew was 3) we all enjoyed it and I knew we'd be back. This year I decided it was the perfect time to go because Matthew and Kate are at that completely magical-at-holidays age. (Kate is almost 4 and Matthew is 5.) Josh was a little too young to fully get it, but I knew he'd like it too. So, even though it's expensive, we splurged and booked our Polar Express experience for late November. (Right before Thanksgiving.)

I was SO EXCITED. We went on a Friday, but Michael was able to get off work early so that we could give ourselves plenty of time to get to Williams, which is where you board the train. Williams is the cutest little town just past Flagstaff and one of my favorite things about doing the Polar Express is getting to stop for dinner there. We ate at Pine Country, an adorable diner with good food and absolutely delicious pies. I was SO bummed that Josh hadn't napped at all on the way up but he was in pretty good spirits once we got out of the car and got some yummy food in our bellies!

This dutch apple pie was straight from heaven.

And then we headed to the train station! They have lots of elves walking around saying hi to all the kids. They also had some characters from the book/movie walking around. We'd read the book and watched the movie a TON before we went up there, so the kids were so excited to see the movie come to life.

Tickets!

Boarded!

Once the train took off, the staff (dressed up like the characters in the book) danced and sang, brought us cookies and hot chocolate, (the cookies are delicious but for some reason the hot chocolate is always nasty) and read the book. Matthew and Kate were soaking up every second. Josh did pretty okay, though he was getting pretty antsy. Once we got to the "North Pole" we all enjoyed checking out the lights and driving by Santa on his sleigh..... then the train started going back the other way, and when we passed the sleigh, Santa wasn't in it. ;-)

On the way back we all sang Christmas carols. We were one of the very last cars for Santa to get to since we were at the front of the train. Matthew and Kate were SO excited and Matthew kept his eyes on the door, waiting for Santa to come. Joshua had pretty much turned into a total mess at this point, flailing and crying. That whole no-nap thing had really caught up to him by then. Luckily the noise of the singing/excited passengers drowned him out a bit so that he didn't bother anyone else too much. :)

Here they are catching their first glimpse of Santa!

Santa was super friendly and gave each of the kids a bell. He gave one to me and Michael too, which was nice so that I could make it into an ornament keepsake. The kids all loved Santa. Even Josh calmed down for about 10 seconds when Santa handed him his bell. Ha!

We got back to the train station and then got back into the car for our drive home. We'd considered staying the night in Flagstaff, but there wasn't much snow so the only reason we'd stay longer would be to avoid the drive one more night. That seemed like a waste of money, especially since Kate and Josh do NOT do well sharing one big room with the family. :-) The drive home was slightly miserable since Josh is not a good car seat sleeper, but we did get some quiet moments so that was nice. :-)

Anyway, it was SUCH a fun thing to do and I'm so glad we did it at such a magical age for Kate and Matthew. Totally worth it!