Polar Express - French Lick - 2014

Our entire family was given a very nice gift several months ago - tickets for everyone to ride the Polar Express in French Lick!  We went this past Saturday.  We were all excited for the day to come!  I made matching pj bottoms for all the kids, bought coordination shirts and iron-on letters (monogramming was too expensive), and made the girls headbands.  The kids looked really cute :)

When we got to the train station, they had several heated tents set up.  Inside were gift shops, picture taking areas, and activity areas for the kids.  They had a large dry erase wall that kids could go mark on.  Hayden drew "Santa" and a cat?  Maybe he was trying to tell me he wanted Santa to bring him a cat?  Poor Rowan (not sure who she is) - her drawing of a reindeer was killed by Krissy's red dry erase marker. 

I really wanted to get a family picture of all us.  We had several shots to choose from.

We arrived to the train station about an hour before we could load.  The tickets suggested larger groups get there early to ensure you sit together.   We kept going in and out of the heated tents.  We'd take pictures or walk to the bathrooms then go back in and warm up. 

Grandparents + the grand kids (minus Baby H)

Olive didn't know what to think of Hayden being in her face!  He loves kids!

Austin's hair looks really red in this picture, but I think it's more blonde in person.

We boarded the train effortlessly.  Hayden and Krissy didn't want to sit in one spot very long.  They sat with everyone throughout the course of the ride.

The conductor punched all the kids tickets multiple times to make confetti on the kids heads. 

The two "elves" on our train served us cookies and hot chocolate.  I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed in the hot chocolate!   Isn't the North Pole supposed to have the best hot chocolate?  My kids lapped it up.  Next time I'll bring my Starbucks and pretend it came from the North Pole...

The elves invited the kids to dance in the isle during the train ride.  The girls liked this part the best.

Hayden and Allie with one of the elves.  The elves did a good job and were super sweet to the kids.

 

This was my favorite picture from our train ride!  I need to get this kind of lense!  Everyone was looking and the kids weren't crying about Santa (like they did a couple weeks ago when they saw him!) - win win!  It was a great night and a great way to kick off the Christmas season!