The Polar Express

We spent last weekend in Branson AKA the North Pole with Gigi and Papa. The kids couldn't wait to ride the Polar Express train and go to the North Pole to see Santa! We did all the prep by reading the book and watching the movie endless times! Our fun weekend started out on Friday night in Silver Dollar City! The lights were incredible! We saw a cute Frosty show and the kids got to go on stage! They thought that was so cool! We rode the train there, got a ride on the carousel, and ate our first batch of popcorn! When we got back to the hotel we discovered Santa's little elves had left something! Cookies and milk! Even though it was near 10pm the kids woke up for this! What a treat!

We started the day out right with an amazing breakfast buffet with all the sausage Benjamin could eat! Then we went to the Amazing Pet Show and saw a lot of dogs, cats, and birds doing all kinds of amazing tricks! We grabbed lunch at the hotel and Benjamin took a nap while Bella went swimming with Papa. After Benjamin woke up, the kids got on their reindeer pjs from Gigi and we headed to the train station. You could feel the excitement and fake snow in the air! Yes, this was the complete Polar Express experience! We boarded our first class train car and found our seats as the engineer greeted us! They read the story over the intercom as the train started up. The engineer came around and punched their tickets just the movie. Bella couldn't wait to get her ticket punched! The waiters brought out hot chocolate with whip cream and sprinkles in our special Polar Express mugs that we got to keep. This was Benjamin's first hot chocolate and he downed it! He even had a whip cream mustache, it was so cute! We got a great view of the Christmas lights and then went to the North Pole where were saw Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves all waving and doing tricks for us.

Santa got on the train and gave the kids engraved bells that said The Polar Express on them. Bella said she wanted the Jessie doll from Toy Story for Christmas and Benjamin wanted a ball. They were loving this! We had endless refills of hot chocolate and cookies and even got a visit from the hobo doing magic tricks. We got back to the hotel and ate some wonderful pizza and the kids went straight to bed. The adults stayed up and played a game of phase ten, where I have to brag about being the winner! It's not too often that I beat Brandon in something, so this was fun!

Sunday morning we had another round at the breakfast buffet with the most scrumptious omelets and waffles. The kids got to go swimming one more time before we packed out bags. The hotel was so nice and was beautifully decorated for Christmas complete with a large display of gingerbread houses and Santa coming down on a rope from 10 stories up. The kids favorite part of the hotel was pushing the buttons on the elevator and using the key cards for the rooms! What an adventure is was staying in a hotel! This was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season! Thanks Papa and Gigi, we love you!!!