This weekend we took a ride on the Polar Express. This hour and a half train ride leaves from Lewistown (about 2.5 hours from here).
If you are familiar with the book “The Polar Express” then this Advent Adventure will sound familiar to you.
I tried to get tickets last year, but waited too long to buy them and they sold out. This year Big H got us tickets. Even though it is in the middle of Nowhere, Mont., it fills up quickly.
After boarding the train we were served hot cocoa and cookies by our elf. The kids were given coloring books and then the elf read the “The Polar Express”. Before we knew it we were at the North Pole.
Santa came out of one of the houses and boarded the train. He walked through the cars and took pictures with the kids. He gave each child a silver bell and signed their copies of the book.
The conductor came through the cars next and stamped our tickets with the word “believe”. Then we sang Christmas carols on the way back.













The whole thing was so much fun. We’ve read the book one hundred times, so Anders knew just what to expect. He is super interested in trains, so it was neat that he got to ride on one (we rode a train in Argentina, but he doesn’t remember). Finn loved it because Finn loves almost all experiences (except counting stars in the dark and snow when it is zero degrees).
We started to head home, but it was so cold and blizzardy that we decided to spend the night in Lewistown. We had the dogs with us, so the choice was easy; there was nothing critical to get home to. Anders went to bed easily and Finn stayed up until 10, running around, carrying trash cans and rolling all over the bed. At one point in the middle of the night I woke up to find him laying across my neck. How he slept like that, I don’t know.





For more holiday fun photos check out Henry’s blog.
The Polar Express train ride is always sold old here in Northern Illinois too! Maybe we’ll get in next year when the baby is older and will appreciate it more – looks like a lot of fun!
One of the problems with living in super-PC land is that we don’t have anything FUN like the Polar Express to look forward to. I might have to petition Amtrak.