Polar Express

This weekend, Sarah and I took a little girls' trip to Branson.  It was our first trip with just the two of us, and it was really a lot of fun!

We both needed a little break on the drive down, though, so we stopped just outside of Springfield to visit Fantastic Caverns.  Sarah was very excited to visit her first cave (although she was a little afraid that there might be spiders living in there) and I was thrilled to be out of the car for a bit!  Ironically, Fantastic Caverns is the only drive-through cave in the United States, so...

Sarah played for about 10 minutes in the visitors' center while we waited for the tour to start.  She loved climbing on the Jeep in the lobby.

Then we hopped into a "real Jeep" for our tour of the cave!

We headed through a low overhang in the side of the hill...

...and then we were inside the cave!

Our tour guide gave us a brief history of the cave (who found it, who explored it, etc.), which didn't impress Sarah much.  She did really like looking at the formations, though!

 What she did NOT like was the occasional drop of water falling on her head...

An hour later, we were on the road again.  We arrived in Branson with plenty of time to swim at the hotel before we needed to get ready for the real reason for our trip - a ride on the Polar Express!

Sarah and I put on our Christmas jammies and headed down to the Branson Landing area to grab some dinner before getting on the train.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and Sarah loved watching the fountain along the river.

We ate a quick dinner, which - for Sarah - was just milk, a bag of nacho cheese Doritos and the frosting off a carrot cake cupcake. (I had a chicken salad sandwich, thank you very much!)

Then it was time to head to the train station!  We picked up our tickets and then joined the mass of humanity on the platform to wait for the train to arrive.

Before long, the Polar Express was pulling into the station!

The conductor told us to check our tickets to see which car we would be riding on (we were on "Silver Terrace") and then warned the kiddos to hold tight to their tickets.  Apparently, there was a hobo on board who wanted to steal a ticket so he could ride the train!

Then all the conductors and all the cooks (every car had one of each) came out to help us get safely to our seats.

I put Sarah in charge of our tickets, and she took her job very seriously. 

When the conductor came, he asked to see our tickets.  She hesitantly agreed.

Then he asked her what her name was.  "Sarah Jane Archer," she replied.  The kind man just smiled and said, "I think that starts with an 'S', right?"

Then he punched her ticket with an "S" on it! 

The conductor read "The Polar Express" aloud to us, and then we were on our way to the North Pole.

We all were given cookies with rainbow sprinkles and a cup of hot chocolate. Guess which one Sarah was excited about.

But mid-cookie, that nasty old hobo showed up!  Sarah quickly hid Ellie in my purse so the hobo couldn't steal her.  Luckily, he left Ellie alone!  He did, however, steal cookies from the conductor on our car.  Sarah was very worried about the hobo (or, as she called him, "The Elbow") coming back and stealing other things, so she stayed on my lap for a long time after that...

She jumped off my lap as the train pulled up to the North Pole, though!  There were dancing elves all over the platform, and Sarah loved that they did flips for us.

Guess who got on the train at the North Pole?

Santa came through our car and handed out the First Gift of Christmas to each child.  (In case you have somehow missed reading the book or seeing the movie, Santa picks the main character of the story to receive the first gift of Christmas - a bell from the harness of his reindeer!)

Sarah loves "The Polar Express" because the main character has a sister named Sarah.  I love it because it reminds me that "sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see."  

The story ends with these words: "At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them.  Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound.  Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."

Sarah, baby, I hope the bell rings for you for a long, long time...