Polar Express

Last Saturday, we took a ride on the Polar Express!  We had read the book, seen the movie and decided it might be fun to take our own ride.  We also decided that since it was a 3 1/2 hour drive that we would make a weekend out of it and spend the night in Asheville.  I think the kids were most excited about staying in a hotel :).  

We left Saturday morning and checked into our hotel in Asheville before driving the last hour to Bryson City, NC.  What a beautiful drive into the mountains!!  We even got to see a little snow on the side of the road while we drove - the kids were psyched!  Once we arrived in Bryson City we got our tickets.  As part of the experience we also got to tour the model train museum that was right next to the train depot.  The boys especially enjoyed this - and I don't mean just Jack and Luke ;).  We spent about 30 minutes there before the kids changed into pajamas and we got ready to board the train.  We were greeted by "Merry" Christmas our server and her assistant Christmas "Carol".  Once the train started the ladies served us hot chocolate, just like in the movie, and then the story was read over the speakers.  At one point on the beautiful ride we drove past "Santa's home" and the "Hot chocolate factory".  On the way back to the depot we had a surprise visit from Santa and he gave each child on the train a bell, "the first gift of Christmas".  We sang several Christmas Carols, which everyone got into, before finally stopping back at the depot in Bryson City. 

Once we departed, the kids couldn't stop "chatting".  They loved every part of it and it was so fun to see them so excited!  We headed back to the hotel and had a pizza party before heading to bed.  We had such a great time and made some fabulous memories!

Fun Week!

What a fabulous week we had!  I'm a little behind on this blog, so I'll try to catch you all up!  We were fortunate again last week to have a house guest.  Mr. Joe came on Sunday and stayed with us through Friday.  He is in search of a job in Charlotte and we enjoy being his base camp :).  

Monday night Luke's WEE school class performed during "Family Night" at school.  This was our family's 7th annual "Family Night" performance, so we felt like pros, but it was a little bittersweet.  With the possibility of Kindergarten looming for Luke, both Rich & I realized this was quite possibly our last family night performance.  We didn't dwell on this, but it did hit us each differently.  Frankly, Rich seemed a little giddy.  I on the other hand was a little sad...  Ironically, I'm the one who couldn't wait to put the crib away or stop nursing, but this particular milestone hit me a little harder.  No tears, but I did come close.  These major milestones seem to be coming in a more sweeping fashion lately, maybe that's why I want it to slow down a little.  

We dropped Luke off in his room, the 4 of us took our seats and sat back to enjoy the performance.  You really never know what to expect from these little ones, so it's always entertaining.  Luke's class was 10th - yes 10th!  So we sat through 9 other classes and then finally Ms. Kaila & Ms. Libby's 3 day 4's were up, all eighteen of them!!  They asked each of the kids in his class to dress in their pajamas, so we had no idea what they were going to be singing.  They all lined up so nicely and Ms. Kaila passed out little plastic mugs and they proceeded to sing an adorable song about wanting hot cocoa.  It was all going to well, until Luke wanted to do "cheers" with the 2 girls on either side of him...  Yes, in the middle of the song he looked over at one of the girls and clanged his plastic mug to hers and then turned and clanged his mug to the other little girls.  I'm not sure anyone but the 4 of us noticed, but it was really funny to watch the little girls faces.  They wanted no part of it, so he turned back to his teachers and continued with the song.  We were so proud.

On Friday, the older two had their performances.  They were part of the lower school musical and it was just beautiful.  Since moving to a new school in September we have continued to be impressed with almost every aspect of Carmel Christian and Friday was no exception.  All of the kids did a fantastic job and the musical "Life School Musical" was such a tremendous testimony to Christ.  Both of the kids did great and we were very proud of them.