All Aboard the Polar Express!

We were beyond excited to have PawPaw and Granny come out on the 9th of December to have an early Christmas with us and to see Anna perform in the Nutcracker. They could only be here from Friday through early Sunday morning so we had to fit in a ton of fun in a short amount of time. The kids had made "welcome" signs for the grandparents that they displayed at the airport. Granny loves High Hand Nursery and so we left the airport and headed for the gardens and lunch at the cafe. We were a bit early for our reservation and so we walked around a little bit. Jacob was preoccupied with the pond there....a bit too preoccupied. He tumbled right in and PawPaw saved him at the last minute, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him out. Needless to say, we had to skip lunch and head home for some dry clothes for the little guy.

After we dried the baby off and had a big bowl of chili with some cornbread, we headed off to the Polar Express in Sacramento. This was Jacob's first time on the train and the girls' second. Jacob has been obsessed with trains lately and so this was right up his alley! 

While we waited to board the train, we wandered around enjoying the train displays. Anna and Jacob made friends with the quartet that was there singing Christmas songs and Anna even got to say "Merry Christmas" over the microphone. Santa and Mrs. Claus were also there greeting everyone.

When it was time, we boarded the Kris Kringle car and left Sacramento on our way to the North Pole. Hot chocolate and cookies were served. We had our golden tickets punched and listened to the story "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. When we finally reached the North Pole, we saw Santa and his elves. Santa boarded the train and passed sleigh bells out to everyone who still believed. It was a great night. After the train ride, we wandered through old Sacramento and came across the "Theater of Lights" with a reading of some excerpts from Mark Twain as well as a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas".