Tolomei Tidbits: Santa Train.....Frigid and Fun?

This morning we braved the cold, snowy-ish conditions to drive up to North Bend, WA to catch the Santa Train. John's parents arrived from Chicago on Thursday evening and had bought the tickets in advance for a fun festive experience. Unfortunately, John wasn't able to make it as his last final was postponed until Monday and he needed some time to study. Anyway, I was glad that I had a true Chicagoan (which equals experienced snow/ice driver) navigating our vehicle in John Sr. (Grandpa), because it was quite snowy as we drove up to North Bend. The kids were excited to ride the train and see Santa despite the cold at first. We weren't aware beforehand that the old train would have absolutely no heating in it (you could see our breathe). Emilio pretended it was the "Polar Express" and it was really quite pretty looking out the windows on our way to Snoqualmie because it was a Winter Wonderland up there. The train ride was short and we got off and were ushered into a line to see Santa. The waiting took place outside though and so as we stood longer and longer, children all around us started to lose it and cry. It was very very cold out. My kids started getting antsy, but we were soon welcomed into a warm building where Santa was seated. Gabi ran right up to Santa and snuggled into his lap and wouldn't stop talking to him. She told him she wanted a Dora movie for Christmas and to her surprise, Santa knew all about Dora and her friends. Emilio said he wanted Police station Legos. Santa was very friendly and we got some cute shots of the kids (see below). The children were then each given a wooden train to put together and decorate. We headed over to the Kitchen car where they had hot cocoa and cookies, but it wasn't very warm in there either. We had to wait for quite a while in there before the train arrived to pick us up. Between snotty noses (from the cold), spilled hot chocolate (all over me) and kids that were starting to wane under the frigid conditions, we were starting to wonder if we could call our experience "Fun" any longer. As we waited to board the train (outside again) Emilio started to really fall apart and cry. The whole ride back to the train station he was miserable (as were many children on the train, we could hear a chorus of crying going on). Even when we finally got Emilio into the heated car and piled adult coats on top of him and changed his socks he couldn't stop chattering and shaking for a long time. We felt so bad for him. Gabi sang away her troubles while Emilio wailed. We headed straight home for a warm lunch and hot apple cider. It is funny the things we do as parents/grandparents in order for our kids to have warm Christmas memories, isn't it? For some reason I don't think Daddy will be too sad he missed out on this experience.