The Polar Express

The first movie that Evan ever went to was when he was 18 months old and my dad took us all out to The Polar Express. We were kind of late getting there and so Matthew and I sat up pretty close with Evan. The kid didn't make a peep the entire time and I'm not sure he blinked either. He stayed that way until we had been in the car for about 15 minutes and then all of a sudden he just started jabbering like crazy. That was particularly strange for him since he hardly ever spoke, only sign language. We were laughing so hard because it was if he had finally processed the crazy movie and was telling us how awesome it was. He had a serious obsession with trains and would watch anything with a train, so when I heard about that the Mt. Hood Railroad did a Polar Express ride I knew we had to do it. We met up with the cousins and had a fabulous time drinking hot chocolate, singing carols and seeing Santa. I don't know that it will be a Christmas tradition but it was fun!

The kids got to wear their pajamas just like on the train so Evan picked out his glow in the dark dino shirt he just inherited from another cousin. Here they are enjoying their hot cocoa & cookie.

Dallin is a hot chocolate connoisseur and he gave this 3 stars. He takes his job very seriously!

I love how their faces were just glowing. They had been waiting so patiently to get their tickets punched. Evan was just sure that his said something very important just like the movie. He was even assigning us all parts in the movie on the drive there. I love the child like glee! Look at little Josha holding his ticket. So cute!

Hmmm, what could Dallin's possibily say except that I'm the King of the World and I totally know it.
Of course the greatest part was sitting on Santa's lap and getting a bell. What a jolly ol' elf!


Here are Noah and Arwen sitting on Santa's lap and then of course little Sparkly Larkly making sure to get her money's worth on this train ride. We love being close to our fun cousins!