The Polar Express!

Last Sunday after church (and a great lunch at Moe's with the Boozers and Mayfields!), we headed up to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Authority to ride The Polar Express.

*Here's an important side note:  I obviously booked the tickets a few months ago, when I had energy and was NOT eight months pregnant and didn't have to pee every thirty minutes.  God bless my husband for putting up with me. :)

We stopped by Mimi and Poppa's house first and spent a little time with them and DoDo. 

And then we headed out!

It was raining pretty steadily and we cut it quite close to departure time, but The Polar Express didn't leave without us!  We had a great time!

Babe was so proud of her ticket. :)

And Emmy Doe LOVED her gingerbread cookie.  It was tough trying to keep this crazy baby still, but between the four of us, we managed. 

We missed "Chef Thomas," the host of our car for the past couple of years, but were excited to spend some time with "Lumber Jack" and "Honey Bakewell" as we rode through the magic tunnel and into the North Pole.  The kids were amazed by how cold the windows felt when they put their hands on them!  The North Pole is a cold, cold, cold place!

Santa entered the train, along with a couple of elves, and almost everyone enjoyed spending some time with him.

While Emmy may not have been too fond of the big guy, she totally dug the jingle bell he gave her and danced with it all the way back to the station.

We ended the night with dinner at Wendy's before heading home and hitting the sack. 

Next year's train ride should be interesting. :)

The Polar Express.

We decided to make our trip to the North Pole a little bit early this year.  Ben is typically not a big fan of Christmas celebrations before Thanksgiving, but with our crazy schedule and Emmy's birth right around the corner, this past weekend seemed like the perfect time to make a quick afternoon trip to Chattanooga.  We had a fantastic time!

For the record, I can still fit into my candy cane pants from last year (they just sat a little lower on my waist!) and Ben and me were not the only adults sporting our pajamas, either!  We saw one other mother getting in on the holiday spirit...looks like we might be rubbing off on some folks!

Our timing was perfect, and we arrived at the station just in time!  The ten-minute wait to board was excrutiating for Babe.  She could not focus on anything else but getting her little booty on that train!!!  I seriously think she was soooo nervous that it would leave without her.  Harris, on the other hand, was beside himself excited.  He ran, jumped, clapped, sang, and literally bounced off any wall he could find.

Once we made it to our seats, Hadley was stoked, too.  Both kiddos had such fun checking out the Christmas lights, listening to the Christmas stories, and digging into their gingerbread cookies (we all opted out of the yoo-hoo this year).

We were soooooo pumped to find out that Chef Thomas, our favorite character from last year, was on our train car again this time around!  He and Chef Debbie helped guide us through the magic tunnel and all the way to the North Pole, where Santa and Mrs. Claus boarded the train!!

The kids received their special jingle bells and proceeded to shake them all the way back to the station.  I can't think of a better way to kick off the holiday season!