Williams, AZ

Last year we made the mistake of waiting till November to check out tickets for The Polar Express in Williams. I'm pretty sure it had sold out the month before. I knew how much Nixon LOVED the movie, so the following summer we made sure to get our tickets nice and early. Christmas season rolled around and Nixon fell right back in love with the movie. The big day came to head up to Williams and I couldn't wait to tell Nixon where we were going. I was convinced he would pee his pants with excitement and I'm pretty sure he said, "What? To the North Pole?" He was pumped. We gave the boys their Christmas jammies early because they obviously needed to be cute matchy brothers on the train ride. 

We were hoping for snow, and we got snow! Lot's of it too. As soon as we pulled up it started lightly snowing all night long and didn't stop till the middle of the night.

We had a few hours to kill before the train took off so we hit up the downtown of Route 66 for some dinner and strolling. This place was straight out of the movie Cars. As we were crossing the street to get to dinner and it was lightly snowing, a clock tower started ringing and a horse and carriage went riding by in front of us. I seriously felt like I was in a movie with my cute little family.

We got to the train station and Levi was being particularly grumpy. We had a few minutes before the train was to show up so Tyler went to try and find some Tylenol. A few minutes passed and Tyler came running back to us, grabbed Nixon and went running outside saying, "The train is coming, I don't want him to miss it pulling up!" I'm so grateful Tyler realizes how important these little moments mean to Nixon. The train came rolling up and we were so close our hair went blowing all over and Nixon's little face lit up with excitement. 

We loaded up on the train and more excitement showed as the train started off. We were served our hot cocoa and cookies and managed to only spill one cup on the floor.

We made sure to bring The Polar Express book and read along as it was played over the speakers. At this point Nixon had the book pretty much memorized and knew when to turn the pages. 

This is how I felt after a while of being confined to one place with two rambunctious boys who want to climb all over me. That face didn't last too long, it was too magical. 

We picked Santa up from the North Pole and Nixon couldn't wait for him to get to our train car. When Santa finally made his way to our seat, Nixon flew up and gave him the biggest hug without hesitation. Each boy received their own bell and that was the cherry on top for night. 

We woke up the next morning to 4-5 inches of snow and couldn't wait to play in it. Levi, however, was less than pleased. 

Nixon had the time of his life making snow balls and throwing them at his dad, running around in snow that was knee deep and learned how to make snow angels. 

After our snow adventure we couldn't resist strolling down Route 66 again and fulfilling more of Nixon's train obsession.

We still had the rest of the day left and Tyler mentioned how he remember going to a deer farm in Williams when he was a little boy. Obviously we couldn't drive passed it without stopping in to feed the deer. Seriously, tons of the friendliest, cutest deer all over the place. 

I literally don't think I've ever had more of a magical weekend with my family. Seeing my boys faces light up the whole weekend was absolutely priceless.