Holiday Train!

Yesterday we took Carter to Santa Cruz to ride their annual holiday train. It was lots of fun!

Carter is currently obsessed with the Polar Express, and really wanted to ride it. Last year I found out that they have a Polar Express train ride in Sacramento, and we thought perhaps we'd splurge and ride it this year. Well, oops - thought about it in September, and it was already sold out! So, we told Carter that this ride was like the Polar Express. I had no idea he would get THAT into it though. He told Daddy the morning of that we'd get our "golden tickets" to ride - and then we'd keep them in our shoes! LOL. So, Mommy slaved and made some "real" tickets! Funny thing is, by the time we actually got on the train, he was so excited that I think he forgot all about the Polar Express. We had a great ride however.

Here is Carter with his ticket! It was a super nice day, so we walked on the beach and boardwalk before we rode the train.

 The train arriving! (We were at the back - Carter LOVES the caboose - although we ended up in the 2nd last car)

 Mr. Excited - can't even look at the camera!

 Daddy and Carter

 Mommy and Carter

 Cutie!

 Here we go!!

 Sunset by the ocean...

 A view once the sun went down - time lapse...about 5 minutes!

 This pic didn't turn out well - flash washed it out. However, if you look close - it was SNOWING. Carter was realllllly excited. An awesome plus to sitting on one of the open cars - no closed windows, so we could catch the snowflakes!

 Santa rode the train too - and gave candy to all the kids! They also had hot cider and Christmas carols. It was ADORABLE watching/listening to Carter sing along.

 Santa gets off at his own station and waves goodbye!

 Parked back at the boardwalk

 Carter in front of the engine (hard to tell)

 ...and a cute pic of our tired little boy fast asleep at home. He went to sleep singing the theme from Polar Express. It was pretty cute!

All in all, a super fun day!