The Chisam Family: All Aboard....


Miss Reagan posing by the snow

This year we took our first trip to Williams, Arizona to get on the Polar Express Train to see Santa. I loved that book and Addison fell in love with movie last year so we decided this would be a good year. We kept the secret for months and then got video of us telling Addison on Thursday night (we were leaving Friday) and she was SO excited! That night at 10 pm, we watched the news and the weatherman was standing up in Flagstaff with snow all over him saying “DPS is saying that you should not come up here unless you have to”. Tears started rolling down my face because I didn’t want to break her heart on Friday morning by telling her we couldn’t go. Friday (with a lot of persuasion from my dad), we decided to go up and the roads were absolutely fine even with snow all over the ground. The snow was falling as we arrived and the girls loved it!

Eating the snow

Addisons first snowman - made all by herself :-)

The girls LOVE hotel rooms!

Reagan is saying "What is this thing"??

Ready to go!! In their PJ's.

We arrived in Williams around 5 and got immediately on the train because the snow was really coming down! Addison loved the Polar Express!! We were given Hot Chocolate & a Cookie (which Reagan proceeded to smash and throw on the ground) on the train ride to the North Pole and then we arrived and saw Santa!! On the return trip, Santa wasn’t at the North Pole anymore and we were all so sad until we discovered that he had gotten on the train! As Addison would say “O.M.G!!”, we were all so excited! When Santa got to our train car, he whispered to her that his Elves had told him she has been a good girl. To Addison that meant that our Elf on the Shelf, Robbie, had really been giving updates to Santa (If you don’t know the Elf on the Shelf story – it’s a little elf that arrives at our house after Thanksgiving and flies to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa to say whether Addi & Reagan were naughty or nice that day. We find him every morning in a different spot and it is so much fun to search for him and see where he landed). Addison was just beyond herself with excitement after seeing Santa!


Yes it really was snowing this hard on us as we were trying to get on the train

"Santa, Santa, Santa"

Excited!

Yum, Yum, Cookie!

Addison & Daddy

After getting off the train, the snow had stopped for a few minutes and Addison wanted to make a snow angel. The girl was in her pajamas but didn’t care! She threw herself into the snow. Then a snowball fight ensued and then Derek started throwing her into the snow. It was hilarious and she had the best time. I wish we could have stayed longer to play in the snow but the next morning we woke up to a world of white! We left around 9 am for fear that they would close the I-17 (which they did right as we got through it- phew) and we would be stranded for another night. I have to admit, it was fun driving in the snow again even if I was driving 25 mph on a freeway! It was a little scary driving down it with a car behind me slipping and sliding all over the road but otherwise fun. The trip brought back all of my memories of growing up in the snow and how lucky I was to have a White Christmas every year. We have all agreed that it would be so much fun to move up to Flagstaff and still be in Arizona yet have 4 seasons! Maybe some day :-)