Reynolds Family: SANTA EXPRESS SURPRISE

We surprised the kids with a trip on the ‘Polar Express’ to the ‘North Pole’ last night!

Last year at this time, we had the idea of taking the kids on the Santa Express, however, little did I know that you needed to purchase your tickets a month in advance for this event. So, this year, I made sure to sit down at the beginning of November to plan out when we were going to take the kids to the North Pole!

My Mom made the trip with us, and I’m sure she was glad she came along. The train depot is in Boone, so we took the hour drive there on Saturday, December 5th. The boys didn’t know what we were doing or where we were going and surprisingly didn’t ask many questions. I put in the movie Polar Express for the kids and Grandma Mary to watch in the van on our drive there.

Once we got into town we stopped at Pizza Ranch to eat an early dinner. The kids still didn’t know what was going on and didn’t even know where we were. Tyler told us today that he thought we were taking them to the Hawkeye game. (The Hawks played at 7:20 that night in Indianapolis in the Big 10 Championship Game.)

When we got back into the van after dinner, I handed them their pajamas and slippers. They still didn’t have a clue! They both just guessed that we were going to a pajama party.

When we pulled up to the train station and told them we were getting on the Polar Express, they were so excited!

The downfall of the whole evening was that we had to get there a whole hour before departure. We picked up our tickets at 5:00 and then waited in the depot for 30 minutes until boarding. We boarded the train, and got our tickets punched at 5:30 and then departed at 6:00.

The train ride was an hour or so long. We took the 11 mile ride to the ‘North Pole’. Once we reached the North Pole we stopped and were each served a cookie and hot chocolate. Then Santa arrived and handed out bells to all of us! This was the best (for me!). I loved watching the boys’ faces when they saw Santa come into our train car! After our snack and gift from Santa, we left Santa at the North Pole and waved good-bye as we passed. We then took the the trip back to the depot.

Overall the trip as a whole was amazing! Brady was a little on the tired side and had a couple moments that were not his best. They didn’t last long and he was happy with a smile on his face for the majority of the trip. I did ask him what his favorite part was and he said being at the North Pole! Tyler was completely happy every second of the trip. He sang his little heart out and was loving the whole experience!

Ready to get their tickets punched and board the train!

Grandma Mary and the kids.

These boys are ready to ride!

I love these family experiences!

Grandma and Tyler singing away.

Tyler ate up his sugar cookie within seconds.

Brady wanted to sing in the microphone so bad. Unfortunately he did not get to, which caused one of those ‘moments’ I mentioned.

It was hard to get good pictures of Brady since he was sitting right next to me and there really wasn’t much room to move on this train. But I do see that dimple! He’s on his knees and watching Santa walk into our train car!