Polar Express, where to start?

After hearing for years from Bri & Michelle how wonderful the Polar Express train in Durango was, we had to try it this year. What a fun girls trip we had with Shawna & Abigail. The 7 hour car ride both directions was uneventful, thankfully to the many activities, snacks, and Shawna playing cruise director/referee keeping the girls happy. We were lucky to have good weather both directions except Wolf Creek Pass, which was better than other routes.

Sunday night was quiet after our brief stop at Carl's Jr to let the girls play.

They of course didn't sleep in on Monday, though we had some good activities planned for them during the day. Gracie and I took a quick stroll to get coffee and breakfast. Gracie started to yell for a cookie at 8am in the morning, vacation won out and she got one. The breakfast turned into a picnic on the hotel bed that the girls thought was so much fun.

We swam in the morning going between the pool and hot tub. Then we took a quick trip around Durango to see the main street, Burger King play area, and then Mc Donald's play area. The girls still had energy to burn. While Shawna enjoyed an early birthday gift I napped with the little ladies. Gracie learned how to crawl from her pack and play onto to bed to nap with me. Guess I am doing something right because she started to rub my belly to try and get me to go to sleep. She is such a good mommy already to me and her babies.

We were then off to burn some more energy in the snow, since they actually had snow though it was raining outside. There was some great sledding for both the girls. The snow was perfect for making a snowman that the girls were proud of.

To get ready for the train ride I brought a ginger bread train to decorate. Abigail did a great job decorating while Gracie did a great job eating all the candy...I don't know where she gets her sweet tooth ;)

We then got the girls dressed in their pjs, Gracie received special pjs from Gigi & Bapa that had Elmo drinking hot chocolate on them. Waiting for the train was a bit chaotic though once we were on the track waiting, the reenactment of the story started and the train finally came down the tracks. Even as an adult I got chills when I heard the music and saw the steam engine coming down the tracks, all I can say is magical. The girls were super excited to get on the train and our seats were even facing each other. Each car had a chef and waiter that passed out hot cocoa, rice crispy treats, read the Polar Express book, received stamped tickets, and got the kids to answer trivia. The train trip wasn't that long to the North Pole and Santa was there waiting for us as well as the toy shop covered with Christmas lights. On the way back to Durango we sang some Christmas carols, Abigail sang a wonderful Jingle Bells, and then Santa made it to our train to hand the first gift of Christmas to the girls. Both girls got the bells that they rang often to make sure they could hear the ringing. Santa even commented on Gracie's cute bows.
There was so much joy on that train, I can't wait to go again when she is a bit older to really understand how much fun the train really was.

We were able to also celebrate Abigail's 5th birthday together after the train at Applebee's. The girls sure loved sharing the dessert with each other.

Gracie was sad to see Abigail and Shawna leave when we got to Denver, she talked about them often when we got back. A girls trip was so special for us all! It did get us in the Christmas mood more so since as we were driving back into Denver we didn't really need coats to move the luggage. My week of vacation started out with a bang!