I think we made a memory today!

Today Courtney and I took the boys on a great adventure. We ventured out on our own to try out Seattle's new light rail. We had two purposes in mind. Rewarding Hank for successfully mastering the potty and to see THE REAL Santa at Nordstroms. It was an absolutely WONDERFUL day! Even though things didn't turn out EXACTLY as we'd planned.
Hank was SO excited. I'm sure he thought he'd died and gone to Heaven. He talked nonstop all the way into Seattle. Asking so many questions, telling us so many things about everything he was seeing out the window.

The ride took about 35 minutes. When we got off we were all excited to go and see Santa. Much to our dismay, the wait for a visit with the Big Man In The Red Suit was going to take FOUR HOURS! WHAT!? Who knew. We thought there would be a big revolt if we didn't stay, but all Hank really wanted to do was get back on the train! He said, "it wasn't the real Santa anyways because he couldn't see his mouth" (he saw through the fake beard)!

We tried to talk him into riding the Carousel across from Westlake Center, but he wanted none of it. Courtney and I were the ones who wanted to stick around and have some fun! Max was up for it too. We saw tons of things we'd love to have done. There were people singing on the streets, playing drums on the corners, all the store windows were decorated with wonderful moving scenes....EVERYTHING was Merry and Bright.
In the end we bought a sack of warm, fresh mini doughnuts (yum-o) and got back on the train.

We decided to stop at Southcenter on the way home and check out their Santa. OF COURSE, he was out feeding his Reindeer! We stuck around though. Had a Jamba Juice and a pretzel. Didn't take long for our turn to come after the Reindeer were full and this is what we got. Hank LOVED it, Max, not so much!

Hank: "Nana, can we ride the train everyday?"

Nana: "If we did that Hank it wouldn't be special."

Hank: "I don't care if it's special, Nana!"

I think today was a hit. I think we made a memory.

(Postscript: The train really was awesome. Free parking at the Tukwila station, $5.00 for a roundtrip ticket, drops you right off in the heart of downtown Seattle shopping and is very user friendly. I've definately found a new tourist attraction when company comes for a visit! I'm a fan!)