Journey to the NORTH POLE!

The day after Thanksgiving, we packed up some leftover turkey sandwiches and set out for a trip to the North Pole! Mckinley, like always was so excited that she was sitting in her spot in the car at least an hour before we were ready to go, but we finally got everything packed and began the 3 hour drive to the North Pole. (You didn't know it was so close did you?....Oh yes, not much trouble at all for Santa to be checking twice when you only live 3 and a half hours away from the North Pole. My girls should be very worried.)

On the way, we saw tall, snow capped mountains, frozen waterfalls, rivers and we drove through a tunnel! When we got almost to the top of the mountain, aka Heber, Utah...cold enough to play the part of the North Pole, we checked in to our hotel. (What? Hotels at the North Pole? No no no, you have to take a train, or a reindeer, the rest of the way.)

As soon as we got to our hotel, we brought our things in and Mckinley kept saying, "this is so much cool!!!" Dolce made herself right at home by promptly throwing Pooh bear and her Lovee in the garbage. We ate our turkey sandwiches and then went for a swim in the pool that was very reminiscent of glacial North Pole water and probably had ice chunks floating in it. Mckinley even swam with her broken arm held up out of the water.

Then we all took hot baths and showers and got dressed in our jammies for the magical train ride to the North Pole. On the train we got hot chocolate and Mrs. Clauses cookies brought around by Mrs. Clause herself. We had to pick up Santa at the North Pole so that the kids could let him know what they were wishing for for Christmas. Mckinley has consistently said that she wants a baby that jumps up and down. However, she surprized all of us by telling Santa that she wants a wagon. Dolce was very fascinated with the lights on the train, and the hot chocolate.

When we made it back to our hotel, we were quite amazed to see that Santa had already been there. He had left a little gift for the girls on their beds. They opened them to find slippers to keep their little piggies warm!

Then we read some Christmas stories. We always read the story about Jake and the Christmas Orange. David always gets the job of peeling the oranges and he has to get faster at it everytime we have another baby so that everyone but him can have an orange. Then we all practice feeling charitable and make him a Christmas Orange. Like Jake in the story. (If you notice the picture of Dolce eating her orange, she looks like she was in a very charitable mood.)

The next morning, we ate breakfast in the hotel and then drove down into Salt Lake. We met up with Sunni and Shawn for lunch and catching up. Mckinley would not let Sunni get very far out of her sight. She insisted on sitting by her and had so many things to tell her, including that she and Sunni have the same color of hair! If you compare, you can see it's true. She has the same color as Sunni. David's is quite a bit darker.

That evening, we went to Bonsai for dinner which is just like Benihana. We love watching the chefs prepare the food and it was so fun to see the kids response to it. Not one to let any opportunity pass her by, Mckinley even tried to catch some shrimp in her mouth. She jumped out of her chair and ate it off the floor when she didn't catch it.

Then we spent the rest of the evening at Temple Square enjoying the lights and company of friends.

What a fun trip!