2013 Pullen Park Holiday Express

Having attended this event last year and having had a good time, I wanted to go again but really wanted to aim for a Saturday (last year we went on Sunday). This year I bought our tickets as soon as I was notified they were on sale. In August.

Flash forward to Friday - the day before the event: Grant is diagnosed with strep throat and its supposed to be super cold on Saturday. So we waited to see how he was feeling and he seemed very Grant-ish on Saturday so it was decided we'd go. Very reluctantly from Husband but we went.

Waiting for the bus.

So Pullen Park doesn't have adequate parking for something like this, so they have you park at a soccer field and run buses to the park which is rather convenient. And I think Grant was just as excited about riding the bus as he was about the train. Our plan was to make this quick. Ride the train, ride the carousel, go home. That was the plan.

Entrance

I love their little light displays, cheesy though they may be.

Posing with Daddy at the Pullen Park caboose.

So we walked around the lights for just a minute and headed to the line for the train. It became rather obvious at that point that "quick" wasn't going to happen. 

Waiting in the train line.

They very wisely snake the line around by the playgrounds
which came in handy for lots of parents, us included.

Firetruck/Fireman lights

He got excited every time he hear the train whistle!

After 30-45 minutes of standing in line (which really wasn't that bad except for being cold), we finally got on the train.

The train takes you around the light displays and through some light-covered canopies. Grant loved it and was yelling out everything he saw. Its a short ride but it was fun.

We did a quick walk around the park before heading to the carousel. Which has got to be the fastest moving carousel ever. 

I think was as we were starting up...it's not blurry enough
to be when we were really moving.

Aaaaahhhhhh it's so fast I'm about to be thrown off! :)

We headed out after that. If Grant hadn't been sick the day before we may have stayed longer. Or if it was warmer. But it didn't matter because he had a good time anyway. And it was followed by pancakes for dinner. For Grant, it doesn't get any better!