Polar Express & Silver Dollar City

The first weekend in December we headed down to Branson for a fun weekend with our friends, Brooke and Sasha. They actually live just outside of Branson where Sasha runs a local pharmacy. We had such a fun weekend just hanging out with our friends like the old days. Our kids loved little Harper and were perfectly happy to play with her and her toys. Noah was also introduced to the Wii and dominated in both bowling and boxing. We had a blast! We went to Silver Dollar City Friday afternoon/night and seriously had a great time. We were bundled up enough to stay warm, but it started raining shortly after we got there. Luckily, it cleared up and we still got in quite a bit of fun. The park is beautifully decorated for Christmas and though it seemed busy there were no lines at all for rides. I think most people go for the lights and shows around Christmas or something. Noah rode his favorite rollercoaster, Thunderation 5 times.

Saturday night we rode the Polar Express. Noah's 3rd time and Elliot's 2nd. It was a lot of fun, but mostly we just enjoyed getting to spend so much time with our friends. Before kids, Brooke and I were in nursing school together. At that time, Sasha was in pharmacy school. They were good couple friends of ours and we hung out quite a bit. Working nights, having kids, them moving away, etc we haven't had much opportunity to hang out the past several years. But, we have way too much fun. It's not a far drive and the kids get along as well as we all do. We bought season passes for Silver Dollar City next year and plan to make more visits from now on.

Elliot at the official measuring station - he was in the green baby!

Noah & Paul on Dumbo ride

Elliot & me on the Dumbo ride

At a local park

Harper & Brooke at the park

Pushing Elliot on the swing

Skipping rocks

well maybe not skipping, but throwing and big splashing for sure

oh how he wanted to take this stick home....

All dressed up for the Polar Express playing on my iphone

me & my boy

The Kramers

Our whole group

Santa & boys

so Harper still not so sure about the big buy

Second annual trip to The Polar Express

We went on our 2nd annual trip to ride the Polar Express last weekend. We were thrilled that it's now in Branson! Although, Durango was an awesome experience, it was not a trip was up for with both the boys at this age. This was a doable roadtrip. Best of all, we were with extended family as well.

After the train ride with Sarah, Charlie & Greg, we joined Mom & Rick, Grandma Lois & Grandpa Gene, Sam & Keith for a belated birthday dinner for Sam. Then we had cake. Wish we would have had more time to spend together. Next year, we'll go for more than one night for sure. Warning: this post has a ton of pictures, but I can not and will not apologize :) I love them all!

Our best attempt at a family pic.

Me with my boys

"Tickets, please! Tickets!"

"Hot Hot....yeah we got it.....Hot Hot Hot Chocolate!"

Notice my son had to pick his own, as the chef is trying to hand him one. Silly, silly chef!

And the sugar high has kicked in. We had dancing in the aisles. And wrestling in the aisles.

Maybe we should have tried before the sugar high kicked in? With Uncle Greg

We are now in the North Pole. Elliot was bashful at first meeting.

So I took his bell for him.
Charlie & Noah are ok with the big guy...
E tested to make sure he was the real deal. Yep, the beard is real.

Wild? Yes. Out of control? Maybe. But, no fighting. Only love.
This face makes all the effort worth it.

My sweet little E was passed out halfway through dinner. He woke back up when we went to the hotel for cake without a fuss. Such a trooper! He fell back asleep on the way to our Condo and was out for the night. Big day for my little guy.

Having fun

The morning after our ride on the Polar Express, I spent some time alone with E. Because he's an early riser, I tried to get him out of the condo before he woke everyone up - probably quite unsuccessfully. Especially after Mandy gave him a bath in the huge whirlpool tub in our bathroom, where I could hear the splashing from across the condo.

We drove back into Branson and found a Shoney's for breakfast. He proceeded to destroy the breakfast bar, and then the bathroom too, where we left them a present that my tip did not do justice to. He fell asleep on the way back, and while Mandy and company went out for breakfast, I stayed at the condo and waited for him to get up from his nap.

He's getting to be a busy little guy, and likes to play. Once he got up we stretched out on the fold-out couch, and he had a ball just playing in the sheets and hopping on pop. He's getting pretty fast these days, and still pictures are getting harder to come by.

To paraphrase the quote, "good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." He's apparently had some of both, because he now rushes right up to the edge of the bed and stops rather than kamikaze-ing right over without even pausing.

Trying to grab the wipes from me. We went through quite a few of these this morning (you're welcome, Mandy)

Charging at me from across the bed. Chasing dad is serious business.

Making faces at Dad

Looking like the angel he isn't.

Trains...

Noah is crazy for trains. It's hard to tell when exactly it started, but it has been this way for a long, long time. He's been on small-scale trains, full size trains (the kind that goes out and back in about 20 minutes) and trains that are really just cars pulled by a lawn-mower type tractor. You would think for a boy that is that nuts for trains, he would be grinning from ear to ear when we encounter one. That's not the case, though, no matter what kind of train it is. The bigger, more serious the train, the more serious he gets. For a full size train, the expression on his face is like someone took his favorite toy away from him. He gets a big frown, his eyebrows furrow deeply and he gets a look on his face like someone is getting ready to punish him.

That's when we know he is having some serious fun. We took this trip for the (almost) sole purpose of letting Noah ride a real train for Christmas - combining a real train, and Santa Claus, and the snows of Colorado all in one trip.

The Polar Express is a widely loved book and movie, and is recreated on various trains around the country. But there are few places where you can experience the mountain wilderness, the snowy rivers and the exquisite "North Pole" like the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado. The train arrives out of the mist, puffing steam and coal exhaust as it rolls into the station to pick all the kids up. The kids, and many of their parents, are dressed in pajamas, robes, slippers and various other bedtime wear as they get ready for the journey of their short lifetimes.

Noah enjoyed the hot chocolate, the cookie, the dancing & singing chefs, the conductor punching our train tickets, and especially Santa handing out his very special Christmas bell.

We peeked at the train the morning of our big train ride

We watched the Engineer shovel coal and spit shine (literally) the windows

Choo Choo!

Leaving for Silverton

Later that night:

A family picture, right before we leave the station

Excited for the train to arrive, running around in his footed PJ's

Getting ready to board the train.

Getting his Christmas cookie.

Alllll aboard!!!!

Having fun with the train tickets. He looooved those tickets.

Hey...is that Santa? Holy cow, I think I just saw Santa...

Getting a Christmas bell from Santa.

He played with that bell for the rest of the trip back, and most of the night.