Just The Mays Family: PAT December Meetings, Recital, and Express Ride!

We have had a lot going on lately, so I am just going to give a quick rundown with lots of pics!

Samantha's individual meeting this year went well. Brennon was here, so they did the activity together, grocery shopping. We talked about the importance of pretend play. Samantha and Brennon took over, taking turns, one went shopping. The other ran the register. It was a simple meeting, but Samantha and Brennon had fun.

The group meeting for December was a Christmas party. We ate and talked. And Santa was there. Samantha was really skeptical at first, but she got used to him, and once she did, she just went on and on and on about everything. She told him she wanted an iPad 2! lol.

Her recital also went very well! She was number 50 out of 69, but she sat through the whole thing pretty well. When she got up there, she looked nervous at first, but she did her dance. She kept slipping though-poor thing. I can't wait until Spring recital. It is a bit more formal. They will have more practice time and actual rehearsals. And she will be older, so I think she will do even better. I am going to post a video, but you can't see it too well. Jessie had to take it on his phone because the batteries fell out of my camera and I lost them. : / Afterward we took her out to eat with some family. Unfortunately, only my Aunt and my Dad came, but that is okay, because that means everybody came to at least one performance.

Then yesterday, we took her on the Express Train Ride. I have mixed feelings about it. I can't decide if it was worth $150.00 or not.

Mine and Jessie's Point of View: The train ride itself was cool. They made it very formal. They had a sign that said, "Welcome, Mays Family" on our seats. And because we were in the "VIP Car," we got actual hot chocolate instead of YooHoo. And a fresh baked cookie-which was amazing. Mrs. Clause read "The Night Before Christmas." But when we got to the North Pole, I was a bit disappointed. They didn't have it "all done up." It was pretty simple. Just a train decorated like it was "Santa's Wearhouse" and then a sign that said, "Welcome to the North Pole." I was also under the impression that we were going to ride a bunch of light displays. There were a few lights put up, but not many at all. Having Santa on the train was pretty cool. Once we got to the North Pole, Santa hopped on. The car we were in got its own Santa, so each kid got more time with him. Samantha got to talk to him and she was pretty excited. She told him that she wanted a tricycle and a brown blanket and a Rapunzel doll.

Samantha's Point of View: Everything was magical! She didn't notice that there was no snow and that it wasn't fancy. She didn't see the cords or the orange cones holding up the spot lights. All she knew was that she was that she got to ride on a train with Mommy and Daddy all the way to the North Pole and she also got to see Santa.

So it was definitely worth going to do, and I am glad we got the VIP because she seemed like she got a lot of enjoyment out of it, but I am not sure if we are going to do it next year.

After the train ride, we stopped by the gift shop and then took her to Outback. She was almost asleep when we got home, but we turned on the movie "The Santa Clause" and we all fell asleep to that.

This weekend was definitely a lot of fun. Now I can't wait for Christmas Day!