The Polar Express!

This weekend, we had the wonderful opportunity to go on the Texas State Railroad's Polar Express ride.  We wanted to try and go before Christmas, but unfortunately our schedules didn't work out so we got to go the day after Christmas (which was just as great).  The ride up was great, I got some quality time with my mom and sister.  Noah kept himself busy in the backseat--looking at all of the scenery--while Macie and Hannah kept themselves occupied watching movies and playing with girly toys in the third row seats (thank goodness for 3rd row!).

We arrived in Palestine at about 3:00, got checked in at the hotel, then took our bags to our room.  Noah needed a nap so my mom, Hannah, Macie, and myself went down and checked out the indoor pool area then went to the lounge area for a little hot chocolate and coffee.  Hannah really wanted to go swimming before our train ride, but I just didn't think it was a good idea to get them all wet and yucky knowing they would end up needing a bath before we left.  She's a very sweet, understanding little girl and settled for coming back that evening for a swim--I don't think Macie cared either way.

Sweet little guy napping.

So, 5:00 rolled around and we headed up to the Railroad station.  We got our tickets at will call then had about an hour to spare, so we got a funnel cake to share.  That thing was demolished in about 3 minutes flat.  Macie only wanted the powered sugar and Hannah could have probably eaten another one by herself.  Those things are so stinkin' yummy!

We decided we better get in line considering the capacity of people that were rolling in, so we headed to the platform.  Luckily, we had climate controlled seating.  I think my fingers just about froze while waiting in the cold!  We then heard the train whistle and the kids got pretty excited.  I wish we were able to go a few weeks ago when it wasn't so cold because I think they would have had a lot more fun, but I do think they had fun once we got onto the train.

Here are a few pictures:

Happy girl!

Lindsey with her little guy.

Sister, Mom, Nephew

She just doesn't like to take pictures with me. :(

This was as good as it was going to get with Nana and her grandbabies.

Macie is always happy with her Hannah!

COLD!  Waiting on the platform.

Noah was keeping warm under the blanket.

Finally on the train!  YAY!!!

SANTA!

Having fun with his treat.

 We had an all around great time--even though it was cold!  We didn't even set an alarm to wake up the next morning.  When we eventually woke up, we just took our time getting ready and the kids ATE CHEX MIX IN THE BED and watched cartoons together.  It was really nice getting to spend some quality time together!

So sweet!

Noah playing at breakfast.

 So, we set out for our 2 1/2 hour ride back to Clifton to drop off Lindsey and the kids.  Made a stop in Corsicana to take our potty breaks and get some beef jerky.  Finally we got to Lindsey's house, unloaded, I rearranged all of Macie's stuff in the car, and we set off to Meridian to drop off my mom.  Not even 10 yards out of the driveway, my car starts dinging at me--"LOW OIL PRESSURE, TURN OFF ENGINE IMMEDIATELY".  So I turned it off, started it back up and it did the same thing.  I called my dad to see if he knew anything and he told me to stay there and he'd come look at it (I'm so thankful for my "Jack of all trades" dad).  When he got there, he took a look and told me to call a wrecker to get it to a repair shop immediately.  So now we are short one vehicle and we're just waiting to see how much damage the repair work will be.  I'm so thankful that it didn't break down on the side of the road, but man, this came at the WRONG TIME!  That's just life, I guess.

I'm still thankful for the wonderful weekend with my sweet, sweet family and I hope we will do things like that more often!