Santa Express

Dane absolutely LOVES trains. He gets so excited to go over to Trey's house because Trey has a TON of trains. For his birthday he got a train track and his first Thomas the Train train. We have added a couple of pieces here and there. He loves to build the track and move the train along as he makes the sounds and yells, "All Aboard." When I pick him up from Tracey's he will point and say, "Go that way mommy. See train."

When Dane was just 4 months old we went to ride the Polar Express. I don't remember exactly where it was, but it was about 3 hours away. It was a fun trip!

This year, especially with Dane's love for trains, I couldn't wait for him to watch the movie, The Polar Express. I decided I wanted to take him on a Christmas train ride. I had heard of the Santa Express in Jackson, Missouri. We decided to give it a try this year.

Sunday, December 18th, my mom, dad, Kara, Claire, Dane, Reese, and I headed down for the 1:00 train ride. We all had a great time! Dane was so excited when we got on the train.

He sat on Papa's lap and kept saying, "Let's get moving."

One thing I loved about this train ride was that there was so much for the kids to do during the ride. They passed out a picture of Thomas the Train and crayons so the kids could color. Dane loved holding on to this little stocking full of crayons.

He kept looking out the window waiting for us to move.

The conductor explained the whistles that would blow. I had to warn Dane about this because he does not like loud noises. By the time the train started going he would just say, "The loud noise is just the train." He was holding onto our ticket.

Once we started going he just kept looking out the window.

We got a little bit down the track and we heard a noise on the roof. They said Santa and his reindeer had landed on top of the train. Dane kept looking up, hoping to see something. He was so excited when Santa got on the train. He kept saying, "Sit on Santa's lap."

There was also a bear, which I think was the train's mascot.

I just loved watching how excited he was!

Aunt Kara and Claire

Santa was set up in one of the cars. The volunteers on the train would come get one family at a time and walk them up to have their time with Santa. Santa was so excited to see everyone. He gave everyone Reindeer Food to put out on Christmas Eve.

Another activity they had was facepainting. Claire and Dane got painted up like Rudolph.

The train ride was 2 hours. We got on at 1:00. At 2:00 it was time for Reese to eat. He loved sleeping on the train, but after I fed him he was wide awake for the rest of the ride.

Big Yawns!

Mama took the kids back and they got a toy train to take home.

The train ride was through the outskirts of Jackson. We saw some horses and cows on our ride. Dane and Claire loved looking out the windows.

There were cookies and hot chocolate.

Christmas Cheers!

Hanging out with Mama during the ride.

Also during the ride we played Christmas Bingo, Santa read the Polar Express, and some sang Christmas Carols.

Then Santa had to get ready to get off at his stop.

Waving goodbye to Santa.

Reese was sound asleep when it was time for our family to go see Santa so I left him with my dad while I took Dane up. As Santa was leaving the train he saw Reese and said, "Oh, I missed seeing this little guy." He asked if he could hold him. I thought that was so sweet.

As we got off the train Dane just kept checking it out. He loved it!

We may have to take a little train ride this summer.

I can't wait to do this again next year! It was such a fun trip and there was so much for the kids to do on the train. Dane definitely had a blast!