Polar Express

I think Delaney might finally be over a little bit of a preteen slump. Her teachers and leaders at church (she’s still grumpy at a lot of her teachers at school) have been so patient and good to her, and I’m hoping she’s on the up and up. She had her first interview with Bishop Wiest and got her first temple recommend, which a few months ago I didn’t know if it would happen. Anyways, she really likes a Christmas song that they’re singing in a round and Debby said she’s been helpful with the littles. So grateful!

I went to stake council from 7-9, and then we got out a little late so I couldn’t catch Capitol wards sacrament. I went home and finished packing, then grabbed the sacrament from LP at noon. Adi and Lily played their duet, which everyone agreed went ok. Matt actually said it was better than ok, but he recorded it for me and I agree - just ok. Which is a bummer because they worked hard. Anyways, after delaneys bishop interview we quickly packed the car and were off on a Christmas adventure. We drove about 3 hours up to Cumberland where we quickly hit the pool. 

The pool was warm and they also had a hot tub, so we spent like 2 hours there. It’s Frankie’s time of month, so she happily watched movies in the room. 

We left the pool and got showered and enjoyed our frozen dinners and then by 10pm we were all down for the count. 

This morning we enjoyed our hotel brekkie - hello cinnamon roll waffles - and then hit the pool again. We gave ourselves an hour so we’d have plenty of time for sightseeing around Cumberland. 

First stop was Surplus City. That store was weird as heck, they had everything from textiles to military gear to decor to hardware. We bought 3 plungers and I told the girls to grab one and pose. D has hers behind her back. 

It was cold and bright and snowed on us several times. 

Cumberland is like, almost cute, but then not quite. I don’t know, there were some cute parts. 

Delaney tried to jump up on that wall and hit her shin pretty good, so Matt gave her a lift. 

George Washington stayed at this site twice, so that’s pretty cool. 

We walked all around all around. 

And then we threw on our pj’s and it was time for our Polar Express train!

I’ve always wanted to do polar express and I thought I’d missed my chance with my own kids, but this summer I mentioned it and the girls were like, yes! That would be so fun! So we surprised them with a pre-Christmas trip. 

I forgot we were supposed to wear pajamas, so a few of us matched, and Frankie didn’t even bring jammies. 

And we’re off!

It was cute, the train went super slow and they had Christmas music playing. 

They served us hot chocolate and read The Polar Express. 

Lanes liked hers so much that she drank half of mine. 

❤️

They played that dumb hot hot hot song the whole time they served the hot chocolate. 🤣

We made it to the North Pole and got to wave at Santa. Only Adi was ready for a pic. 

Then D too. 

We stopped and picked Santa up and then started heading back to Cumberland. 

Santa came to hand out bells!

Adi did a cute time lapse video and I loved her “I Lov Christmas” message. 

Yay, we finally got a picture with Santa for 2023!

Then he had the girls stand up and lead the group in a “Merry Christmas!”

After Santa headed out we got our cookies and arrived back to the station. It was a great time!

A few more cute downtown Cumberland shots. 

Matt and Delaney actually made friends in the pool (Adi and I left first so we could shower) and they were in our same polar express train car, and then we took their arch pic and they took ours. 

I figured out how to set my phone camera timer for this one. 



We stopped by Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown on Chelsea’s recommendation and got pretzel sandwiches and pretzel pizza for dinner and now are heading home. It’s been a good trip and we’re tired and ready to be home.