It's that time of year again - the Alaska Railroad Holiday Train! I completely spaced out on buying tickets, but they amazingly had tickets left when I finally remembered. Remembering was due to us going over railroad tracks in the car one day and Thomas telling me from the backseat, "Momma, I really like riding on trains!" Oh no - I didn't buy tickets for the Holiday Train!!!
I think we lucked out because they ran it for three weekends this year! And we got tickets on the very last train. Whew! Henry was much more excited this year - he was mesmerized by the view out of the window while we were still in the city. Especially anyone walking their dog on the coastal trail!
The Holiday train is jam packed full of activities for kids and parents to do in the three hour journey. One of these was a coloring contest! They apologized up front about the crayon situation, but since we were the last train, there weren't a lot of crayons left. We only had gray, orange, blue and black crayons. Matt set to work on a half colored / half grayscale masterpiece. (We ended up getting fifth place - the nice part of being last was they were trying to give away all of their prizes! And the winners clearly had waaaaaay more crayons available.)
In my last minute packing spree, I did manage to pack two of the santa claus hats. Henry would wear it for a split second and then rip it off his head. So much for a serene photo of my youngest in a santa claus hat.
He was more than happy to let Matt wear the hat and bat at the ball. Maybe Henry is part cat...?
Thomas was a sport about wearing his though! He got so many compliment on how cute he looked with it on. :)
Awwww - Henry wore it long enough to take a photo with me. And 2 of the 3 of us are kinda smiling. This must be a new record! Like my green scarf? Thomas picked out the color so I would be festive too!
Then the balloon artist came by! He wasn't the *best* balloon artist I've ever seen, but Henry didn't seem to care about the accuracy of his masterpiece, he knew it was a Minion and he loved it!
The girl across the aisle from us asked for a candy cane and this is what she got. And somehow, that made Thomas want one too. I tried to get him to ask for a Rudolph or a Snowman, but he was insistent he wanted a candy cane. Ok... He also seemed happy with it. Man, I wish I was a kid again and everything was exciting no matter how wonky it is.
Also, the poor girl across the aisle from us popped her balloon later on the ride. She was devastated and cried. It was so sad. We asked Thomas if he wanted to give her his balloon and he was all "No way!" There may have been some cajoling involved, but he eventually decided he didn't need his balloon and gave it to her. She was so happy! I asked him that night if it made him happy to give her the balloon and cheer her up and he said yes. Maybe 3 isn't too young to understand giving is an amazing feeling. Either way, I was super proud of him!
Cookie time! I made a few train cookies yesterday just for the train ride and Thomas thought they looked great. Surprisingly, Henry didn't even finish his. Maybe he overdid it yesterday...?
Santa finally came through our train car and Thomas was not the least bit interested in having his photo taken with the jolly old guy. Henry didn't know what was happening until it was too late. He was very concerned about this guy who sat next to him. After giving him a long look, he decided that was enough and was about to lose it when Santa moved on to the next table. Oh well, so much for the cute photo of the boys in their hats with Santa.
My artistic vision was crushed... Maybe next year!
Henry was pretty happy with the candy canes Santa left behind though. This boy looooves candy canes! He chews them up pretty quick, which is great! Thomas licks them for awhile, gets everything sticky and then hands it off to me because he is done.
Thank you for this slobbered on candy cane. I will cherish it until you look away. Blech!
Then came the craft bags! He managed to string all the beads onto the pipe cleaner but it was just a teensy bit short to fit around his wrist like the ones they do at daycare. I made it up to him by making him a candy cane one. Stringing beads on pipe cleaner is actually quite calming!
Finally, the magician made an appearance in our car. The boys have shown no interest in the magician up until now and they surprised us when they both wanted to watch the show. Obviously, Henry was not nearly as impressed as his brother was...
He was more than happy to play with his Minion balloon again though. Matt was using the air vents on the side of the car to make it float up the window and called it a Minion rocket. Henry then moved it through the air making rocket noises. And the best part was there were no meltdowns - we made it home with no tears! Now that is a present I can get behind!
Now I can't wait for next year - maybe then I can get them to take a cute photo with Santa. A girl can always dream, right?? :)