Party, Train Ride, Friends, and Peter Pan!

We had a crazy busy weekend last weekend. The weekend was all about Hudson and I couldn't wait for it! However, Hudson woke up Friday morning with a fever. Isn't that the way it always works??? He really had no other symptoms except for the fever, so I just knew it was one of those pesky fever viruses. We had friends coming into town (of course) that day so I decided to go ahead and take him to the doctor to confirm what I already knew. Waste of a co-pay, but oh well. So, we had to scratch Friday night plans with the Stolarski's and hope for the best that it would miraculously go away on Saturday. They had thankfully decided to stay in a hotel (even though I begged them to stay with us--thankfully they did not take me up on that offer!). Joel was kind enough to let me go on to dinner with them Friday night, and we had a great meal at Sumo. I enjoyed my night out without kids, but Meggan's little boy Austin took to me and was my little buddy for the night. I missed having my buddy there with me too! It was fun, and good to see friends that I only get to see once a year!

 

John and Meggan made plans to come up here several months ago. They wanted to do the Polar Express again. We were planning to take a year off from it until Harrison could really enjoy it too, but when they said they wanted to do it again, we decided we would too. However, it was all booked by the time we tried to schedule it. I had heard the daytime train ride was just as good (and a whole lot cheaper too), so we did that instead and I have to say, it was almost better than the Polar Express. Definitely better for our 1 year olds too. 

 

Saturday morning, we woke up and the fever was gone! Woo hoo! We went ahead with plans for the day. We had a birthday party first at Pump it Up. We only stayed for a little while, but Hudson had a blast. Harrison had a blast too--I'm actually not sure who had more fun! I think we have Hudson's birthday party picked out now!  

 

After the party, we met John, Meggan, Austin, and Avery in Calera for the train ride. I forgot to mention that they really wanted to ride on the caboose. The caboose is the one car that Santa does not go through on the ride and there are only 8 tickets sold for the caboose, so it was perfect for our group of 8. Their kids are terrifed of Santa and I know at least one of ours was going to be terrified, so I was fine with it. Let me tell you, the caboose was awesome! Especially for Avery and Harrison who just wanted to be on the go. We didn't have to worry about staying in seats or anything like that. We had the whole car to ourselves!

 

Boarding the train!

 

One of the highlights...getting to talk to a "real" conductor!

So, one of the cool (and scary too) things about the caboose was that we could ride on the back of it, which was outside. We had to watch the little ones very carefully and make sure that everyone was hanging on tight, but that was a good job for the Daddies!

Harrison decided it would be fun to toss his paci off the train mid-ride. That was thankfully our only casualty of the trip. Well, we almost experienced another casualty too. There were two dogs playing along the track and if you have never been on this train ride before, basically, the train rides backwards 5 miles and then goes back forward along the same track. So, while we were riding backwards (which means when we were on the back of the train, we were facing forward at this point), the dogs were on the track and we were heading straight towards them. They would not get off the track. I started panicking a little bit, and then the kids realized what was happening and they started to panic. Then, the engineer started to panic a bit and he radioed that the dogs were not moving. Last minute, they ran off the track. We all sighed a big relief. Not sure how I would have handled that potentially sad situation!

Cuteness! (I'm holding him, don't worry!)

Below was the inside of the caboose. It was really neat, complete with an old wood burning stove and potty! The boys loved exploring it!

The train went a lot farther than they do on the Polar Express. It doesn't stop either (except for when it broke down once!), which was good. We were on it for a good hour and fifteen minutes.

Daddies and wrong kids...

We tried taking a group picture...

 

 

We had a late lunch at Urban Cookhouse and then the Stolarski's came over to our house a little later that afternoon and we grilled out. Our house looked like a tornado had gone through it after they left! It was crazy. We had lots and lots of fun though. I'm so glad they could come visit with us!

 

Sunday was Peter Pan day. Hudson was SO excited. We took Migi with us (she told me not to post this picture on anything, but I am anyway!).

I think Hudson liked it. I say "think" because he acted all strange when it was over. He later told me that he wanted to go down on the stage to meet Peter Pan. I think he was just sad when it was over! He loves all things Peter Pan right now so I knew he would like it. He especially loves the crocodile, and would not stop talking about it coming out during the play (we were a little disappointed that the crocodile only made sounds during the play and never actually made an appearance). Anyway, it was a good afternoon out with just Hudson!

We are now getting ready for another really busy weekend. School programs Friday, work parties Friday night, Auburn graduation Saturday (have to be there by 10 am--early!), birthday party, Sunday school party Saturday night, Hudson sings in church on Sunday, and then gingerbread house decorating party Sunday afternoon. Oh and sometime we have to go get a Christmas tree--yep, we don't even have one yet! I'm tired just thinking about it! Tis the season!!!