Polar Express Review/ Feedback

If any of you board the Polar Express next year, you'll have to let us know whether or not they took any of our suggestions. It was fun, but with some tweaking could have been even better... Yes, I sent them a copy.)

Dear Heber Creeper Management, Jan. 2010

My family and I were delighted to be able to board the Polar Express in Dec. 2009. It was a splurge my husband and I decided to surprise our children with because we realize that they will not be young forever. All of us have thoroughly enjoyed the Polar Express tale for years through means of reading or watching it together. Our family consists of 4 children ages 8, 6, 4, and 18 months.

During the drive home from our train ride, my husband and I discussed in detail things we especially liked about the experience, and also some improvements we felt would add more of a magical, storybook feeling. We hope you will take our suggestions into consideration.

Outstanding Elements of the Polar Express Experience:
• Costumes- including the elf hats, chef hats, and conductor’s uniform
• Delicious hot Chocolate served at just the right temp and in a cup with a lid & straw (good for kids)
• Help on and off the train by the gentlemanly chefs
• Décor on the train (garland, lights, and ornaments)
• Happy Mrs. Claus
• Ample time for photo opportunities with staff, all were friendly and willing to pose
• Music with reading of the Children’s’ Book, The Polar Express, multiple copies so all could see
• Proper warning before Santa was spotted in snow (so that kids knew exactly where and when to look and didn’t miss seeing him). Santa waving his lights in the darkness
• Interactive Songs during ride home
• Letting kids tell jokes, sing in microphone
• Cute ticket punch had by conductor, added to ticket souvenir
• Santa handing out silver “believe” bells


Suggestions to add energy and magic to the experience:
• Someone needed to signal the start with a loud proclamation: “ALL ABOARD THE POLAR EXPRESS!”
• Announcement reminding families that young children who were not charged for tickets should be seated on LAPS. (We ended up not being able to sit as a family because we didn’t realize the seats were first come, first serve. In addition- when we got into the car, there were only 3 seats left. We had paid for 5. It was rather “cooped up” ride).
• An initial peppy and even theatrical greeting/ welcome on the microphone once we sat down would have made the moment of departure as exciting as we had imagined.
• I wanted to hear the “Hot Chocolate” song from the movie!!! My kids and I LOVE that song. It makes everyone feel light, and spoiled, and giddy! I wanted the servers to tap dance!!! I was envisioning the tap dancing, or even just some simple form of choreography.
• More dialogue during punching of the tickets- more of an imitation of Tom Hanks’ character. This would have thrilled my kids.
• The “Just Believe” song. People identify so much with this beautiful song which is the anthem of the Polar Express.

We hope that you find this feedback helpful. May you enjoy spreading the spirit of Christmas to all of the families who excitedly join you on the journey of the Polar Express!

Sincerely,

John Alden and Julia Whitehead

It was negative four outside . Brrr! I guess that's typical temp. at the "North Pole!"

Christmas Greeting (It's still Winter- so I guess I'm not too late to archive this here)

Flipping through my calendar to review the year 2009, I have concluded that the word I should use to update you on our family life it simply- full.

Our days are full of building homes (Dad), books & homework (Mom & kids), scouts (Dad & now Will), and continuous household tasks (hopefully everyone)!

Our weekends are full of worship and working together in the church. We also enjoy playing games or taking outings as a family. Old maid and yahtzee are two of our latest favorites. Nathat especially loves all those cards and dice.

Desi learned to ride her 2 wheeler this year and Nathan finally took his first steps. The older 3 kids spent the summer preparing and performing a "Frog and Toad" play at the Arts Center. Will and Cara also made their Dad proud behind the boat on the kneeboard. John's other pride was the plump, juicy peach crop that our tree produced! We are enjoying those, as well as pears, salsa, and apple pie filling this winter.

Our home is full of hair bows & binkies, legos & laundry. We hear laughing, crying, piano practicing, and some form of technology most often all at the same time.

Albeit at times exhausting, a life of abundance is a blessing for which we are very grateful to God. They say the glass being half full is a good thing. I think the calendar being mostly full is too. We hop your holiday season and the coming year are warmed by love, blessed with peace and absolutely- overflowingly FULL of joy.

Does anyone know why I couldn't copy and paste from a word document to here? I have done it many times in the past but today it would not work for some reason. Either something has changed or I am really rusty on my blogging. Or both.

Who needs adult conversation?

Desi on the way to a wedding reception: "Where is the reception?"
Me: "In a different city."
Desi (genuinely concerned): "What if we don't speak their language?"

Another of Desi's Questions: "Why do they even invent robbers?"

During Preschool Workbook time (very sweetly):
"Mom, You're great for making these books."
(What a sweet thanks!)

Caroline at dinner: "Sorry."
Desi: "For what?"
Caroline: "You'll have to guess... Do you smell anything?"

Caroline's question right in the middle of a Home Teaching visit about the Apostacy (and she did raise her hand):
"Uh, you don't mean ,like, the apostraphe that comes before the S, do you?"


Caroline: "Mom, come into the house right now. I made a surprise for you. "
And hanging on the back door I found this glittery, multi-layered piece of artwork:

I love my Care Bear!

William's latest insights:
"Mom, why does the bottom of this happy meal box say 'proof of purchase'? I mean, what if somebody steals the happy meal? This is no proof of purchase at all."

Me after finding a candy wrapper in William's pocket following our family hike to the Y: "Thanks for saving your litter, Will."
William: "Mom, if I never threw it on the ground. It was never litter."

William pondering on our Creator:
"I don't know why He didn't make all of the sweet and yummy tasting foods the ones with all the vitamins."
"I've just always hated it how life has to be hard. Why wouldn't He make it so we could be like 'We can play! We can play!' all day?"

You can bet he got a thorough answer after he asked THAT question!

Lego Birthday Party Scavenger Hunt

While planning Will's 8th bday party, I looked online for a scavenger hunt and did not find one so I ended up writing one and decided to post it. It is an outside hunt that can be adapted to any theme. We had an obstacle course for the lego men (a great idea that I did find online), so the scavenger hunt was for parts of the lego men who would compete in the obstacle course afterward.

To put together Lego Man, each person must think hard.
Solve riddles and find pieces hidden all around the yard.

1. Building things with Legos and K’nex is always fun.
But Mom says only after this loud outside chore is done.

2.Back and forth the children go. They could stay there all day.
Your next piece will be underneath a favorite
place to play.

3. A sanitation engineer comes every other week.
To dump the can that holds another Lego that you seek.

4. There are some great detectives on this Lego party team.
Your next clue’s hidden near a tube that’s flexible and green.

5. Doing Great! You’ve made it clear to riddle number five.
Check to see if your next Lego Magazine’s arrived!

Answers: 1. Lawn Mower, 2. Swingset, 3. Garbage Can, 4. Hose, 5. Mailbox

Yes, he's eight. And handsome too.

I was hoping that I could go ahead and print these cute scrapblog pages in 8.5 by 11 size. That was going to be my new way to digital scrapbook on a budget. Turns out it doesn't work. But I did learn to do it, so I thought I'd share. (scrapblog.com)

My Piles

Pile #1:

And a little poem for those of you with a similar stack-

THANK GOD FOR DIRTY DISHES
Author Unknown

Thank God for dirty dishes;

They have a tale to tell.

While others may go hungry,

We're eating very well

With home, health, and happiness,

I shouldn't want to fuss;

For this stack is evidence,

God's very good to us.

Pile #2 :

This particular countertop section in my kitchen provides a running portrayal of how "ont top of it" I am feeling (or not feeling) about life.

And in relation to pile #2, I share a poem from my "motherhood" collection which I am aiming to have bound and published within the next little while :)

PAPER PILE
by Julia Whitehead

Junk mail, homework, cupons, ads,
Bills that I should file.
Magazines and more are sitting
In my paper pile.

Cluttering my countertop
And looking downright scary.
I start to chip away and wonder,
Where’s my secretary?

So if it seems I’ve vanished-
Haven’t seen me for a while,
Please start to dig, I’m buried
Underneath my paper pile.

And pile #3, the winner:

So why am I sitting here blogging?

These photos were actually taken last week. Today I have spent the entire morning cleaning. So the piles are looking a little better. For now...

The Real Story

***NOTE: Make sure you read "The Thrill of ...Finishing" prior to this post. :) Thanks Linz.

After reading Julia’s entry about the big race, I feel like there needs to be some perspective put into place. Please keep in mind that this is my debut BLOG entry, so go easy on me. I also did not get the creative writing gene that Julia has, fair warning.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Lindsay, I am Julia’s YOUNGER sister who has not had the privilege of carrying, let along delivering any fine spirits into this world, and has tried to pride herself with being physically fit J. I also need to add that our even YOUNGER sister was with us as well, and she will be an intricate part of my side of the story.

When we decided we were going to Vail, I looked it up and suggested that we, as a family, participate in this 10K. I thought it would be a great goal for the family and a bonding experience. As you read, Julia was very enthusiastic about it and started successfully training. Perhaps because of my pride, I wasn’t quite as faithful in the training.

The big day came and well, you read about it. However, I must interject that while Julia was unphased by the fitness of our ‘competitors’, I was not feeling too good about the race from the beginning (a very similar, yet exponentially intensified scenerio will occur at the pearly gates I’m certain). But Kimi and I nervously signed up for the 10K…we’re young and healthy…we can do it!!

About 0.3 miles into the race, we started up this MOUNTAIN!! I really feel the need to explain the scenerio to you a little better. It had been raining all day, we were at about 9500 ft, (Oxygen supply was low), and we were expected to run on a MUDDY MOUNTAIN! Please forgive the extravagance of my metaphor, but I hope it helps illustrate just how unprepared we were (Obviously Kimi and I, but Julia to some degree) for this particular trail run. It is like a 2009 _______________(insert the sports car of your liking, of course I’m a Mustang gal) Driving on a four-wheeling/rock climbing course in Moab!) Words can’t explain how steep, narrow, and muddy this thing was.

We started up it and in no time most people were walking, our spirits were still high. We figured we could endure another 5 or so minutes of this and then it would plateau out and we’d be back in business. Oh no…it took Kimi and I 45 MINUTES to get to the top of the mountain. Attitude still positive, we asked at the first drink station how far we’d gone. The wind was knocked right out of our sails when we had only gone 1.6 MILES!! For the average runner, that is a FIFTEEN MINUTE FEAT!!!

We hung our heads in shame when a quick calculation was done and at our current pace we wouldn’t arrive at home base for another TWO HOURS and FIFTEEN MINUTES!!! Needless to say, we’d met our defeat and only finished the 5K. We did not get our times, we did not get any praise, rather a laugh from our brother who said ‘IT TOOK YOU THAT LONG TO DO a 5K!!’ Yeah, he wasn’t up the mountain, he can’t talk.

My parting words are these: Julia is SUPERWOMAN!! Any of you who were thinking that her time left something to be desired…go to Vail, do the muddy trail run, see how fast you can do it, and then come talk to us. I cannot believe she finished. Yes I’m ashamed I didn’t, but I really feel like the elements were against us on this one. And yes, I’ll attempt another 10K someday to redeem myself, but you’d better believe I’ll be checking out the conditions prior to!!