We headed up to Chattanooga for a weekend getaway recently. On Friday afternoon, we left town to catch the "North Pole Express." Last year the girls and I rode this while Ryan was in Chicago. We really enjoyed it and looked forward to riding it again this year. While they seemed to like it, I have to say that I was disappointed. It didn't seem nearly as well run as last year; I doubt we will return to this or recommend it to anyone again.
They had a couple of light features to enjoy at the station.
The girls liked the gingerbread cookies that the "elves" hand out while on board.
Mia kept a close eye on what was going on outside train as we pulled into the North Pole.
After picking him up from the station (no Mrs. Claus this year), Santa comes around to each family for pictures and to find out what the kids would like. Both girls said the same thing as when they saw Santa at Lenox: Rainbow Dash for Lily and a Thing-A-Ma-Jigger for Mia.
After our train ride was over, we headed over to the Residence Inn to spend the night. On Saturday morning, we checked out and headed over to the Children's Museum. The girls loved it!
The entrance was decorated so cute.
The girls had a lot of fun playing with the water features which was the first exhibit. They put on raincoats, rolled up their sleeves and had a blast.
They loved these little windows where you could feel the water coming down but you stayed dry.
After playing in the water and on the playground above the water, we headed over into "Creation Station" where the girls made ornaments, made stop animation and enjoyed other fun little areas like that.
Right now the upstairs exhibit is all about a "Winter Wonderland." The girls went through a snow maze, watched how an igloo is made and had fun "ice skating" in their socks.
We climbed to the top of the tower to look out over downtown which was neat. Then we headed back down where they had fun playing doctor. Mia could have stayed in this part for hours!
Soon, our friends joined us at the museum. Michael, Allison, Kaitlyn and Jason Sepulveda moved to Chattanooga last year, and we were so glad to catch up with them. Lily quickly latched on to Kaitlyn while Jason and Mia had fun together. We stayed at the museum for awhile together because there were more fun exhibits to explore. They loved the area where you could build a little coaster for balls to roll around on. We also discovered a place where you used a little container to send messages across the ceiling to the other side of the room to a friend; it's a lot like a bank drive-through window. The girls stood on one side and sent messages to Jason on the other side. They loved picking out a question and then waiting anxiously for his reply.
After the museum, we all went to lunch together at Urban Stack which was awesomely good. Their custom made burgers were out of this world delicious, and then the sides (gouda cream corn and sweet potato fries to name a couple) were so yummy. This was a great choice that I would gladly visit again! When lunch was over, we headed to the Sepulvedas house on Signal Mountain but stopped at a lookout point first. Looking over the Tennessee River Valley was simply beautiful.
A couple of hours later, our friend Emily Lovingood Graffius and her family came over too. We enjoyed dinner together and letting the kids play while the adults chatted and caught up. It was a great time. We spent the night at the Sepulvedas (Lily was thrilled that Kaitlyn invited her to sleep in her room!) and then headed home on Sunday morning. While we won't do the train ride again, we certainly hope to go back to Chattanooga and have fun with our friends again!
