The Polar Express / Fun Around the House

It's been a busy week since Thanksgiving. Nick pulled out my old Santa hat. St. Nicholas he is not - just ask any mom of a two year old boy.

On a good note though, Nick isn't completely TERRIFIED of Santa this year. He actually sat on his lap and smiled. Harris wasn't really into the whole idea of Santa. Maybe next year...

The most exciting part of our week was our train ride on The Polar Express. We've been talking about it with Nick for weeks and watched the movie about 5 times. We left out of Bryson City at 11:00 am on Saturday and rode to the "North Pole" to see Santa Claus. Nick still didn't feel well, but he seemed to have a great time.

The passengers were served hot chocolate and a chocolate/marshmellow treat just like in the book.

Here's Santa!

An elf gave Nick a bell to ring.

He must still believe in the spirit of Christmas; Nick rang his bell all day.

This was just a cool picture. It looks like he's suspended amongst the trees.

Everyone read The Polar Express together then Santa came around again to autograph it.

One of the most exciting things for me about this trip was that we drove in Sylva and Cullowhee, and I got to look around Western Carolina to see how much campus has changed. WOW! It's unreal the construction that's been done since I visited about 6 years ago. As a special treat, we ate at one of my favorite restaurants - Smokey Mountain Grill. It has NOT changed in 6 years.

Here's Harris and Nick with Big Dan & Big Mama.

Harris went to the doctor this week. Oh my goodness how this child is growing. His weight on Thursday (at 10 weeks old) was 15 lbs, 9 1/2 oz, and we haven't even started him on solid foods yet. His car seat only goes up to 20 lbs. Guess I'm going to have to develop some upper body strength.

Chris hung garland on our front porch. We thought we'd better bundle Harris up so he didn't get cold. I think his jacket may be a bit too big still.

That's better!