Polar Express Adventure in French Lick

We kicked off the holiday season by making a trip to French Lick in southwestern Indiana, where we met our cousins, Marty and Katie, and their two little boys, Connor and Hunter. We arrived a little bit sooner than the Brown family, so we decided to visit the West Baden resort. There were Dickensian carolers singing in the background while Moira and Alan played a game of checkers. Afterwards, we went into the giant atrium to admire the Christmas tree. It was a lovely detour before heading to our hotel.  




After we settled into the hotel, we explored our surroundings. The girls were intrigued with all of the "winter scenes" that they kept finding. We meandered our way into the conference center where they had lots of bounce houses and games set up. Marty and Katie met us there, and after we had dinner, we headed to storytime and cookie decorating with Mrs. Claus. The kids had a great time, and as you can see below, the adults were kept very busy.





The next morning we had a delicious breakfast and then went to meet Santa Claus for coloring and hot chocolate. Afterwards, we went swimming in the resort's beautiful indoor pool (complete with fountains) for about an hour or so. Afterwards, we found a deli/market where we could get basic lunch items, and we headed outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather before settling down for naps in the afternoon. Well, to be clear, everyone napped except for Moira. She and Alan went bowling. And Hannah fell asleep in the car (she's growing out of naps, so sometimes the car is the only way) and didn't wake up until it was pretty much time to go to the Polar Express train, which caused us a bit of drama later.








The kids were all very excited about the train ride to the North Pole...except for Hannah, who was very grumpy at first (as evidenced by her refusal to look at the camera for the photo in front of the train). They had fun exploring the train station and waiting for the conductor to shout "all aboard."








The fun began when the conductor came through to punch the train tickets, continued when everyone received hot chocolate and a cookie, and culminated in arriving at the North Pole and having Santa come on board to visit. All of the dancing that occurred on the return trip from the North Pole with the elves was pretty memorable too. 







After the train ride, we grabbed a quick dinner with the Browns and then headed home to Indianapolis. Less than 12 hours after we arrived home, I landed in Miami for a two-day work meeting. It was one of the busiest starts to December that I can recall, but it was totally worth all of the hassles because our families had a great time together.



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