A Day to Remember

As a tradition, each year we take the kids to the mall to visit Santa Claus and have their picture taken. This year, we stepped up our game. Big time. Hank, Max, my wonderful mother-in-law-"Nana Grover," and I, rode the light rail from Tukwila to Seattle to see The Real Santa at Nordstrom's.
If you know one thing about Hank, you know that he is positively obsessed with trains. He loves them. It would be an understatement to say that Hank was in heaven. He was so alert and attentive, watching out his window, completely fascinated during the entire ride.

If you know two things about Hank, you know that he is a man with a one-tracked mind. The big climax of our train-ride was supposed to be our visit to see Santa Claus. However, from the moment we stepped off the train, Hank was only interested in turning around and boarding the train again. When we discovered that there was a 4 hour wait to see Santa (seriously?!), I was worried that Hank would be really disappointed. He took one look at the Santa in the window, decided that he didn't like that Santa because, "he doesn't have a mouth" (I guess Hank wasn't fooled by Santa's very fake-looking beard) and was ready to head home. We actually tried to talk him into riding the Carousel or stop to listen to a street band, but Hank wanted none of it. So, we gave in and took the train back again!

Max was a delight. He loves to people watch and was just happy to be along for the ride. I think Max's favorite part of the day was when we picked up some yummy fresh donuts to eat on the way home.

We couldn't break our tradition--so we stopped at Southcenter to get a picture with Santa. Hank liked this Santa much better. Max, on the other hand, was absolutely terrified! Poor boy! We had such a fun day. I'm beat, but it was completely worth it because I know Hank will remember his first train ride and our visit to see Santa for a long time.