Advent - Day 21

This morning James got up with Hunter (at 6:15!) and they sat down to watch The Polar Express right after breakfast...we tivoed it the other day after realizing how much he loved it.  After it was over, we told the kids they could look behind door 21 on our advent house, and when I read to Hunter that we were going to the North Pole Express, he freaked.  I seriously have never seen him so excited about something.  He jumped around screaming for about 2 straight minutes before falling on top of me in a heap of giggles, heart racing.

When we got to Grapevine and parked, there was already a long line and we were still 20 minutes out from our train time.  Hunter did not love the waiting as you can see...

 ...not giving me much hope for Disney!

Char didn't love the waiting either.  She kept needing to be held:)...

Finally it was time to go inside the tent for the "pre-show".  We waited and waited and waited until the show started, and I say this in the most positive light possible, but it was cheesy to the point where I was a little uncomfortable for the performers.  Hunter agreed...

After the show, we went outside and headed for the train.  It didn't show up well in this picture, but they had foam machines blowing out "snow" as we walked through the pine trees to board the train...

Ready to board...

We were finally on the train and ready to go!

The conductor came through and punched our tickets, and Charlotte kept saying it was her "money"...

Then Santa came on and handed out these bells...

I made the mistake of telling Charlotte that Santa had treats as he was walking toward us, so when he handed her the bell, she was a little more than slightly disappointed.  She kept digging in her bell and saying, "I want candy!" with the most disturbed look on her face...

That girl does love her some sweets.  Every time I ask her what she wants for Christmas, she says "cookies".  Today I pushed her a little and asked what else she wanted to which she responded, "cake."  Of course.

The kids definitely had fun on the train, but I won't be paying $72 for that ever again.  And I wouldn't recommend that you do either.  And of course I say that in the most positive way possible:)

Our verses tonight were Matthew 2:9-10, "After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."

We read the story of the Magi in Hunter's Bible, which explained in a perfect kid-friendly way that after the census was taken, the people left Bethlehem to go back home and that Mary and Joseph went home and moved into a new house, which is where the Wise Men visited.

Excited for tomorrow!  (I'm just going to make that my official sign off from now on.)