Journey to the North Pole

Steve had a conference in Spokane on the 5th, so we were right back up in Spokane after Thanksgiving.  While we were up there we decided we would take the girls to the North Pole. (thank you groupon for making that possible!)

After Steve got back from his conference we headed to Ceour d'Alene.  It had started to snow, so traffic was awful and slow.  As a result, we literally ran to the boat carrying the girls.  Once we got on the boat we could finally relax.  The girls were all bundled up since it had been really cold that week, down to layers of thick tights under their pants, but we stayed warm spending most of the time inside the cabin of the boat.

Here was our favorite part of the dock lights.  Ellie talked for days about how she saw a fire breathing dragon on the boat.

 And here is what Ellie was most concerned with.  She saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas about a week before while we were in Spokane, and was concerned that she "didn't want to meet him!"  She was relieved when Steve told her that he couldn't get to us because he was stuck on the dock and we were on the boat.  Then she thought he was funny...

After we passed the lights on the dock we grabbed some tasty hot cocoa.  Mckayla wasn't impressed, but Ellie loved it.  It was a great way to pass the time while we drove to the North Pole.

 When we did pull up to the North Pole Ellie was so excited to see Santa and one of his elves.  She was especially excited when he listed her and Mckayla as being on the nice list.  She told us for more than a week after about how Santa knew her name!

 Here Mckayla was watching Santa and his elf be silly.

 And this was Ellie as soon as Santa said goodbye and the boat turned around.  She immediately started crying that she "missed Santa."  Big change from last year when she cried any time she saw Santa at the mall or anywhere else...

 We went back inside to finish our hot cocoa and finally got Ellie cheered up when the elf on the boat gave Ellie a candy cane.

We then asked her to grab a picture of our family.

 When we got back on land we spent some time in the mall warming up.  We couldn't afford to look at anything, but Ellie was really excited about all the characters roaming the mall: gingerbread man, reindeer, snowman, polar bear, etc.  Here she was telling the polar bear all about Mckayla and herself...  The girl is friendly, maybe too friendly.  Steve also got attacked and molested by a snowman, which was really REALLY bizarre.

Before heading out we grabbed a picture of the girls in the sleigh in the mall, although they never looked at me at the same time.

Then we headed back out into the snow to drive back to Grandma and Papa's.  It was beautiful out, if cold.  And Dad's new camera (which I borrowed because I forgot ours) grabbed some great pictures of the lights and snow.

That took care of our trip to the North Pole for 2013.  We had a great time, and it really got us geared up for the upcoming holiday!