santa express plus christmas parade equals tons of fun

We have been having the best weekend. Last night we celebrated S's birthday with a great group of friends. I was a little nervous because we were bringing a couple of different circles of friends together and you never quite know how that will go, but it went really well. However, I think the best part was that it was an adults only party and my awesome aunt kept the boys for the night so we wouldn't have to worry about picking them up late at night.

It was surprisingly eery this morning though when we woke up, because there was no sounds of little children in the house and everything was in the same place we put it the night before. You know we've really adapted to having kids when the quiet and neatness gets to us. Ha! In any case, I really missed my stinkers and couldn't wait to pick them up, because...

We had tickets to the Santa Express! W and G are really into trains and they got to go on an hour long train ride with a certain man in red making an appearance. Making the whole experience even better was having my aunt and her granddaughter (my cousin's child) come with us. W and his cousin, T, are 6 months apart in age and always have a fantastic time together.

Checking it out with daddy

Mommy says don't forget about me!

Trains are cool.

Hi!

Cousins at play

Auntie S, T and W

All aboard!

Are we ready yet?

The choo-choo goes "WOO-WOO."

Scolding Santa's Elf for sneaking the train without a ticket.

I got to say that the conductor was pretty cool.

Visiting with the big guy, Mr. Ho Ho Ho himself.

The plan was to go home after the train ride but as luck would have it, the town I grew up in was having their Christmas parade so we decided to stay and enjoy it.

In front of my grandmother's house

which is now owned by my aunt.

Enjoying his view of the parade

No matter how old you are,

everyone loves parade candy.