French Lick: Part 2--The Polar Express

After we played at the water park in the hotel we got the kids all cleaned up and put their pajamas on.  We had tickets to the late train so we had dinner (in our pajamas, of course) and hung out for a while until we went to the village.  It was sooooo cold that night (shocker considering that is how the whole winter was) so we did our best to keep the kids warm and entertained before the train arrived.

 Most of our group once we entered the village. 

The village area had tents where kids could write notes to Santa, do activities, visit Mrs. Claus, etc.

Pat fish...love it!!!

Right before the train arrived the kids found a newspaper and the front page read, "Boy comes back on Polar Express and out Santa is real!"  The excitement was too much!

 

And after a really long day it was finally our turn to ride the Polar Express!

Think they are excited?!

The conductor came down the aisle and punched our tickets.  Everything was just like the book and the train actually had a narrator on the speaker reading the book.  Sometimes the conductor would walk the aisles showing the pages of the book. It was hilarious because Kate said she saw wolves in the forest right after he walked by her with the page with wolves on it.

Next up, hot chocolate!  Cheers!

 

The elves brought us our hot chocolate and then the kids danced in the aisles to the song from the movie.  "Hot, hot, hot.  Yeah, we got it."

Before too long the train was headed into a tunnel.  We were singing "You Better Watch Out" and when we exited the tunnel we arrived at the North Pole!  Santa and some of his elves were waving to us.  It was awesome!  Although judging from the picture below you can tell that Kate was a little freaked out and was trying to figure everything out.

 

 

The conductor telling the kids that Santa might be coming on the train!

Santa came and we all got some pictures with him.

Santa didn't stay long because he had to get back to the North Pole. :)  We sang more songs and danced in the aisles until we were back in French Lick.  The girls passed out immediately in the car.  It was an exhausting (and cold!) weekend, but it was incredible.  The Polar Express ride is expensive for the whole family, but oh so worth it.  It was magical!  It is so awesome to experience something magical like that through your child's eyes.  Now I have to convince Jeremy to take us all to Disney.  Ha!  We went on the trip right around Thanksgiving and it definitely got us all in the Christmas spirit!