One night, several weeks ago, in an effort to keep from watching "Ice Age Dinosaurs" for the millionth time, Donny suggested "The Polar Express" movie for Aly to watch. I bought it years ago when it came out because I loved the book so much, but it has been collecting dust since then. Aly surprisingly agreed and immediately fell in love with it. Since then, she has watched "Choo-choo Express" pretty regularly and has become very fond of the book. So, when Donny found out they do Polar Express train rides on the Branson Railways, we decided it wasn't something we could pass up. We immediately bought tickets for that week and planned a quick weeknight trip to Branson and back. I know it sounds crazy, but Donny and I have always been big believers in sacrificing a little to make big memories. We feel like we won't ever remember how tired we were the next day, or how we would have spent the money if we didn't go, but we will always remember the experience. And boy, will we...
First of all, let me just say that we were, in true Hubbard fashion, running late. Donny was driving like we were running late. The roads were extremely curvy. Aly puked in her coat.
We didn't have a minute to spare and she PUKED in her COAT! I've been extremely prone to car sickness my entire life and I was feeling pretty green. Unfortunately, Aly was too. We yanked her out of the car, let her finish her business, stripped her down, redressed her, and were on the road again in about 6 minutes flat. Here's the kicker.... our car is at the dealership being worked on and we were in a loaner! Serves them right for taking their time if you ask me.
So we finally get to the train station. Aly's coat and hat are covered in throw up, so we threw a blanket around her and made her wear the hat anyway. (We've been battling ear infections and even had a ruptured eardrum this week. That's another story.) We literally ran to the station as they were loading the last group of passengers. We went into the ticket office/gift shop and the lady behind the counter held up our tickets and said, "Are you the Hubbards?" We grabbed them and took off again. As I turned, my suitcase of a purse smacked into a postcard display and sent postcards flying! They assured us they would clean them up, but I was mortified.
We got to the train and one of the conductors said, "Are you the Hubbards?!" Wow, we must really be late. As he directed us on where to go, I'm hearing walkie-talkies screaming out, "We are waiting on the Hubbards! Has anyone seen the Hubbards?" It was crazy! Thank goodness, we made it to our seats just in time. Even though we did wreak of vomit for the rest of the evening, I think it might have been one of our favorite memories we have made with Aly so far.
The conductor punched our tickets just like he does in the movie! He punched the first letter of our names into our tickets. A nice touch for a major Polar Express fan like Aly.
They made us buy our tickets in even numbers since we were in the dining car. Kitty became the fourth passenger at our table. If you know Aly at all, you know Kitty is well loved and travels with us everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Claus gave Kitty a lot of extra attention.
In the movie, the little boy puts his ticket and his bell in his robe pockets. I was so disappointed I didn't realize they could wear their pajamas until Aly discovered she had pockets just like the boy in the movie.
This is our server showing us pictures from the book as it is being read over the loudspeaker. They also played the music from the movie and Christmas carols during the rest of the ride.
Hot-Hot-Hot, Hot Chocolate!
Yummy cookies, too!
We picked up Santa and "Mother Claus" (as Aly calls her) at the North Pole. They gave all of the kids a bell like the one in the book and sang Christmas songs with them.This is a video of when we arrived at the North Pole. The elves were doing flips and handstands, which I missed because I was too busy taking video!
Aly asked Santa for a dinosaur, big surprise, and happily posed for pictures.
