Williams AZ looked like a cute little town the night of our train ride, so we decided to go back Monday  morning and look around.  There were WAY less people.  We practically had the place to ourselves.

This old steam engine was HUGE!  Aidan couldn’t get enough of the trains.

The courtyard of the depot was decked decorated with a little village full of lights.  Emma & Aidan standing by a wheel of a steam engine.  It’s HUGE!

Here’s a shot of our train in the daylight.  The crew was cleaning the windows on the other side of the train.  There were a lot of little window lickers & sticky chocolate fingers the night before. :)  This was one lil’ window licker who is all smiles cause he knows he kept his mommy up ALL night long and now he can rest in the car ride home!

 

Flagstaff & Williams is beautiful.  Very similar in view to Colorado.  It was hard for Emma to understand we were still in AZ.  She kept asking “are we back in Az yet?”.  Both towns have quaint little main streets and lots of mom & pop local restaurants that looked very interesting.  Either town would be a great destination for a couple –sans children- to visit and stroll around.

The further you go south on I-17 the snow covered mountains turn to lower mountains or even red rock cliffs of Sedona.  The evergreen trees thin out to green bushes.

          

Then the cacti appear.  More and more the closer to Phoenix.

THIS was perhaps the most interesting sight on the way back “down”.  Matt passed them and I made him slow back down so I could get a pic!! :)  I can’t imagine hunting something THAT huge!!!  You could see the pride all over the drivers face!!  Ask Emma sometime about seeing this.  She makes a great impression of the elk!!

We took off north to Flagstaff the North Pole after church on Sunday.  We had reserved tickets to ride on the Polar Express Sunday at 8 p.m.

Isaac kept busy with his early Christmas present from Mimi…actually all 3 of them loved the quiet activity book!

Isaac had some trouble with his ears and the altitude.  Rough going from 880 ft to 7500 ft in 2 1/2 hours!! Rough on mommy too…but I’ll refrain from sharing my feelings about the speed limit & road condition on the I-17. When I can stand to open my eyes and look out it is by far one of the most beautiful drives I’ve been on….it rivals fall in the Ozarks.

Along the way we found a DQ which are few and far between ‘round here so it was a must that we stop.  I have.no.idea why Aidan has a sweet dreams mask on?!?!?  This also gave us time to fire up Daddy’s laptop with wireless internet to listen to the Chiefs play.

Our hotel had a “cook-in-front-of-you” restaurant which is Emma’s favorite and highly entertaining for 2 little boys. Aidan even loved the soup that looks like pond water. That kid will eat ANYTHING! :) See Emma’s excitement!

 

This chef really like the fire.  He made some of the biggest fires I have ever seen at a place like this!!  It might have been a distraction so you didn’t realize the $70 you spent on food that didn’t taste very good! :)

After dinner we got our jammies on and took a quick pic by the hotel fireplace.  SOO cute of Isaac & Emma…then there’s “Look-a-squirrel Aidan”.

When we arrived in Williams we wrote letters to Santa and visited Mrs. Clause.  Emma’s  said “I am a nice gril.  I want a IPOD tuch, cumptr and selfon.”  Aidan’s said “I want 2 transformers.  I want a Bulk Head. I am a nice boy. I am excited for Christmas Eve.”

Mrs. Clause reads Aidans and then responds to Emma’s requests as Aidan “mails” his letter.  Mrs. Clause said she would like an IPOD Touch too.  So I told Emma if Santa hadn’t got Mrs. C one than her odds of getting one was slim.  Mrs. C said “What happened to little girls wanting barbies & dolls?” Emma said “I want those from my mommy & daddy.”  She’s really testing this whole Santa gig this year!!

Isaac loved the train set.  He squealed each time it came out of the tunnel!!

 

Here comes the real train!!!

 

Isaac snuggled on mommy waiting to board.

Daddy & Emma.  Mommy & the boys.

  

Once boarded they played the story of the Polar Express as the chefs on the train car walked up and down with the book showing the pictures.  Then they handed out super yummy cookies and hot chocolate. Emma is now in love with hot cocoa!  She sipped and savored hers to the last drop!

 

Before reaching the North Pole Isaac hit the “i’m so tired of being held and it is my bed time so I’m going-to-rip-your-face-off” mode.

After traveling through the “time warp” tunnel we finally reached the no-snow North Pole.  Hard to get a good shot.  It was fully lit with Christmas lights, trees & a little village.  Santa was there waving!

Then Santa got on the train and visited each kids on  each train car!  He gave each child a bell as a souvenir.  We are going to made a tie for ours and use it as this years Christmas ornament.

On the way back we sang Christmas songs.  The kids favorite was 12 Days of Christmas b/c the dads all stood up and loudly bellowed “5 golden rings!” each time through.  Once in the car they quickly passed out as we drove back to Flagstaff.

To be continued….Day 2.

Wow.  What an adventure traveling north!!

More photos and (positive) highlights to come, but for now I’d like to:

1- apologize to our neighbors in room 213 at the Radisson in Flagstaff.  Had I known our children would fuss, cry, flip and flop all night long I would have saved my $100 in hotel fees and slept in a sleeping bag with all 3 kids in the trunk of my car.  The aches, pains  & lack of sleep would have been equal. Additionally I did NOT set the alarm to go off at midnight waking my just.put.to.sleep.baby and everyone else in a 2 block radius. It is also not common practice for my children to wake at 6 am on a school day.  I think they were confused.  School days they typically sleep in….it’s usually just weekends they wake with the sun.

2- apologize to my parents.  If what I experienced this weekend traveling with 3 kids all right.next.to.each.other in the back seat of a car was even HALF of what Adam, Marcia & I put you through I am truly sorry and am quiet frankly shocked at some point you didn’t stick one of us down the hole in the station wagon floor board.

3- apologize to all traffic on the I-17 traveling north or south.  I do NOT enjoy, nor support the idea of a 75mph speed limit when traveling up or down curvy mountain roads.  My husband who chooses to travel 7-10mph OVER the limit was not torturing me like it might have appeared on my face as we FLEW past you.  Although it did feel a bit torturous. Specifically to those traveling “down” I assure you we did have breaks…Matt feels it is fun to see how long he can go without touching them.  Or so I think.

4. apologize to those seated near us on the Polar Express Train ride.  After toting around a 30 lb 15 month old I was exhausted, pummeled and ready for bed by our 8 p.m. departure time.  I did try to smile while Isaac kicked, bumped, head butted, and stepped on my gut.  I attempted to hold it together as he broke my necklace with his chocolate covered hands and the realization my camera malfunctioned thus rendering pathetic photos of this happy, HAPPY time. I am blaming my attitude on altitude sickness.  I mean this 7300 ft is not the 880 I’m used to here in the “valley”. I am sticking to this diagnosis.

Whew.  I feel better now.

Our town had a Christmas parade Saturday night.  We (the odd balls NOT covered in blankets & drinking hot chocolate) found a nice spot along the main drag to enjoy the evening sunset and wait for the parade.

      

Isaac has just learned that when the camera comes out he makes his “cheese” face. Super sweet and shows his toothy grin!

     

Fire truck & THE man himself.

    

Miniture ponies & Christmas light cacti.

   

Those BIG wheels were attached to a scooter like disabled or old folks use!! :)

   

Here’s video of one of our favorite float w/ fake snow, the largest inflatable EVER playing Daddy’s Fav. music:

 

You can tell by looking that this lil’ boy is on Santa’s nice list!!