Escape to Midway

The day after Thanksgiving, we went on a much needed little vacation to Midway to stay at the Homestead and ride the Heber Creeper to "The North Pole." We had been telling Mckinley about it for weeks and she was so excited to be able to go swimming and ride on a train. So we left Friday morning with our car full of Thanksgiving treats and leftover turkey sandwiches for the drive. When we got to Midway we checked in and went swimming. They have a really big hot tub thats like half the size of the pool and as soon as Mckinley realized that she could swim in the warm pool, there was no going back.
After swimming, we ate dinner at Fanny's Grill, which was fun because we just walked over from our room. The whole village was decorated for Christmas and Mckinley loved seeing the lights and Christmas trees and there was even a pair of Clydesdale horses pulling a carriage. The food at Fanny's was pretty good. Especially after swimming.
Then it was train time! We got into our pajamas and drove to Heber to board the train. As soon as we got on, Mckinley was bouncing off the walls, she was so excited. She made fast friends with the elves and the lady reading the Polar Express. As soon as the train starts moving they bring around hot cocoa that's as "thick and rich as warm melted candy bars," and cookies that are made by Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus even comes around with the recipe! Aparently they are Santas favorite cookies.

The train conductor on our train came onto our car and told us some history about the Heber Creeper. The train is a steam engine that is one of the oldest trains still in operation. It moves at top speeds of approximately 15 miles per hour! It also uses about 2000 pounds of coal to make the 20 mile trip to the north pole and back. We rode on a famous car. It starred in the movie A River Runs Through It.

During the ride, we sang christmas carols and one of the songs was The Twelve Days of Christmas. Mckinley got to hold up the sign for the 9th verse.

Mckinley also got to meet Santa Claus and we loved it because she was so excited to see him. Previously, she was always scared of him, but not this time. In this picture, she is looking at the christmas bell he gave to her.
Mckinley also danced with the elves while we were singing some of the Christmas carols. They were so cute with her and really knew how to play with little kids.
After the train ride was over, we went back to our hotel and read The Christmas Orange. You know which one I'm talking about. We only brought two oranges and after we read the story we broke up the oranges to make three. Maybe that will help us remember to think of others this season.
The next day, we went swimming again and checked out. We did spend some time walking around the Homestead village because the weather was so nice. Then we went down to Salt Lake and went to Toys are Us.(We have a birthday coming up!) It didn't take long for us to remember why this weekend is not fun to shop. People EVERYWHERE! But we still had fun.
We went to Settebello and ate the worlds finest pizza for dinner. And we did it the right way-with gelato first. MMMM!
Then we showed Mckinley the lights at Temple square. She was so enchanted with everything "christmas time, " it reminded me of when I was a kid, and was so excited about everything this time of year. It was such a fun trip. We wish we would have been able to see some of our friends but we didn't make any surprize visits in case some of you were still doing family things for Thanksgiving.