Taylor and I took the kiddos on our first family of four vacation all on our own! We did a long weekend in Duluth. They were really good in the car on the way up and back home. The last 20 minutes both ways for Cooper got to be long, he had had enough and I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained.
When we arrived Cooper was ready for his afternoon nap so I took Miley to the pool while he took a nap with Taylor. Miley LOVED the pool. She hasn’t been swimming in a pool since her swimming lessons last spring, so it was fun to get her in there again. After we swam we got ready to go on our first train ride of the weekend. We took a short ride to the Bentlyville Tour of Lights which next to the Aquarium just as you enter Duluth. The lights were amazing! They had such cool displays and free cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows to roast in the fire pit area. They had Christmas creatures roaming around to pose for a photo, we met Mr. Penguin and Mr. Rudolph himself! We could have stood in line to see Santa, but it was cold and we were going to be visiting Santa on Saturday so we decided to skip that part. We got back to the hotel after the tour and had some pizza and curled up and watched the Christmas movies that were on that night.
Saturday we got up and had breakfast and headed for the pool. Cooper LOVED the pool! We spent about 2 hours there! Miley even participated in the sailboat races! After we swan we had lunch and a much needed nap. Then it was time for the main reason we went up there- the Polar Express train ride!!! We boarded the train which was covered with lights and had Christmas Music playing as you entered. We sang Christmas carols as we road to the “North Pole train station” which happened to be the train museum. We entered the train station to see the toy engines up and running. Then we were escorted into the next room where they had carolers singing and a big carpet rug laid out on the floor. The Children sat and were entertained by a Story teller reading them the Polar Express. The train station was decorated in lights and Christmas décor. After the story each child received their very own Christmas bell and they got to meet with Santa. Miley LOVED him and Cooper did well too. Miley said she wanted Dinosaurs- girl ones, not boy ones and told Santa that Cooper wanted some boy toys. (Yes, Santa did some last minute shopping to find some Girl dinosaurs as to keep the magic alive, she is CERTAIN Santa will bring her them!) We got to tour the train station before the Polar Express picked us up again and brought us back to Christmas Town where we got to have cookies and hot chocolate by a big bonfire. Then it was back to the hotel for some Olive Garden to go for Taylor and I and McDonald’s for the kiddos and then we all curled up and watched our favorite movie- The Christmas Story and drifted asleep.
It was a great little family Christmas Vacation and we hope to do something like that at least every other year. It was fun to do something special as a family at this time of year, and Duluth is so pretty in the winter. And shocking enough, they had less snow than we did!
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