Journey to the North Pole!

This past weekend, we took little man on the Coeur d' Alene Holiday Cruise/Journey to the North Pole! I have been waiting two years for him to be old enough to really grasp the concept of Santa so we could enjoy the cruise. This year was the year and it did not disappoint.

We found a great two-for-one deal on Groupon and booked our cruise for Sunday evening. Kiddos under the age of 6 are free, so the whole family got to go for $20. It was a steal! We bundled up and headed out to Coeur d'Alene so we could catch the 5:30 boat.

Kevin and I hadn't been in several years, and they changed a few things this year for the better. The most obvious improvement was moving the line indoors! Instead of waiting outside in the freezing cold, we were sent to line up inside The Plaza Shoppes. This made for a much more enjoyable (and let's be honest WARM!!!) waiting period.

While we waited in line, a snowman greeted the little ones and you could grab a photo with him. Elves stood by to pass out candy canes and collect little ones names to be sure they were included on the "nice" list and before long we made our way to the boat to journey out to the North Pole.

Once we were onboard and found our seats, we headed up to the bar to grab hot cocoa for little man and an adult beverage for the the adults. The cruise is relatively short (40 minutes round trip) and takes you by the AMAZING holiday lights set up on the water. Then you arrive at the North Pole and you're greeted by Santa himself! Everyone sang Jingle Bells, Santa read the names of the kiddos on the nice list (Lincoln made the nice list if anyone was wondering ;0p) and it ended with the largest water tree lighting in the US and a fire works show before we headed back to land.

After the cruise, we headed over to The Dockside for dinner and little man's first introduction to a Gooey's Sundae! I'm not sure if he was more excited over Santa or an ice cream Sundae larger than his face, but he was definitely a happy boy as we headed back to the car.

The best part of the night was when he started singing "ingle elle's (jingle bells)" on the car ride home! I'll never forget: " Mama, ingle elles, ingle ells, ingle all way!"

I can't wait for more holiday festivities. The countdown to Christmas is officially on!

Have a great week.

Apologies for the grainy blurry iPhone photos! We did the best we could in the dark!