*Christmas Train

When I got word from a friend on Facebook that the Christmas Train was having a half price ticket sale in November, I jumped on it! I have always wanted to take the fam, but had never had a window during the crazy month of December to do so. The time had come!

The kids got home from their last day of school for the year, and we told them to go get in their warmest clothes, along with a hat, scarf, gloves, etc. They were quite perplexed...and yet...SO excited! This was a super cool version of one of our favorite family activities..."Surprise Rides." Usually that would include a visit to Braums or a lunch out to a kid friendly fast food restaurant. But, today, it would incorporate a road trip!

It was so much fun teasing them along the drive. When we saw a blinking red light in the sky (helicopter), we asked the kids if it was Rudolph. I then kept asking Greg how long it was to the North Pole. hee hee :-)

When we arrived, the kids were still unsure of where we were...and then, we had a major party foul and found our envelope of tickets to be empty. I almost cried. Thankfully, their sweet little will call desk was able to look us up and re-print our tickets...can I hear a Hallelujah!!

(Here are the kiddo's patiently waiting while we got our new tickets)

And speaking of Hallelujah, there were old fashioned Carolers singing away as we walked in...aww, such a warm fuzzy!

Soon after, we caught glimpse of the train and decided to head that way first.

All Aboard!!!!

We met up with some family friends - Abby was giddy with delight! :-)

One of her besties from church had appeared

(yet another part of the "surprise"!)

The dudes playin' it cool

Baby L

And off we went for our Christmas Train experience... 

After departing the wonderful train ride, we went to visit the most adorable little town...reminiscent of the old days.

Nothing says love like Hot Cocoa :-)

Seriously, if you ask my kids their favorite part of the 5 hour fun-filled evening, they will all tell you "getting hot cocoa". Somehow sweet, tasty things speak to my children's hearts.

Cocoa Joy

Strolling the town

The Arcade

In line for the Puppet Show

Hay bales for seats - so cute!

The show was a-dorable!

Time for a Wagon Ride while listening to The Night Before Christmas being read to us...another precious activity

The O Man taking it all in...

Last, but not least, little man got to ride The Elf Train

Choo Choo!

Time to say farewell to Dry Gulch

Thank you for blessing our family with your amazing hospitality, warm smiles, yummy treats, and most importantly, your creative way of sharing the True meaning of CHRISTmas!