The Polar Express at Union Station 2020

This year things have been switched up a bit but the big news is that The Polar Express is back at Union Station in downtown St. Louis! Grab your masks and grab your kiddos and head downtown for a unique holiday experience unlike any other in St. Louis!

Even in the time of Coronavirus, an important St. Louis holiday tradition will continue to bring joy to families. The Polar Express returns to St. Louis Union Station for the 2020 season with some changes to allow for appropriate social distancing and safety.

The popular family event has been recreated as Believe! THE POLAR EXPRESS Experience for 2020. The beautifully decorated trains will remain stationary under the Union Station train shed this year for a walk-through event. Guests will interact with the The Polar Express characters and Santa Claus in whimsically decorated tents and on the Station’s Purina Performance Plaza.

Believe! THE POLAR EXPRESS Experience is the magical story of a boy’s search for the real meaning of Christmas, based on the beloved children’s book and hit film.

The event begins November 20 and continues through December 30, 2020. 
After beginning their journey, guests will feel the approach of a mysterious train and see the Conductor inviting them to board THE POLAR EXPRESS™. Set to the motion picture soundtrack, non-moving train tours will transport passengers into the magic of the beloved holiday classic.
During the experience, hot chocolate and cookies will be served by dancing and singing chefs and guests will read along with the children’s book,The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg. Santa and his elves will visit with children and give them the first gift of Christmas, a silver bell.
Characters and helpers will wear masks and masks will be required for all guests over the age of nine per St. Louis City Health Department guidelines. 

Timed tickets will be available from 1 to 9 p.m., Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with the last ticket sold at 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, the event will be open from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. with the last ticket sold at 8 p.m. Timed tickets will allow for appropriate attendance sizes and social distancing during the event. Ticket prices range from $27 to $45.

More information about dates, fares and event times is available by calling 314-942-6942, or by visiting www.STLPolarExpressRide.com. Families are encouraged to wear their holiday pajamas for the experience. 

THE ST. LOUIS WHEEL & MORE
Admission to Believe! THE POLAR EXPRESS Experience can be combined with tickets to ride the St. Louis Wheel or to explore the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station. The 200-foot-tall observation wheel will be open daily from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. for views of the glittering downtown holiday lights. Additional activities on site include the St. Louis Aquarium, open daily from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and during holiday breaks. The St. Louis Carousel, an 18-hole mini-golf course at the Wheel plaza and the St. Louis Ropes Course and A-Maze-Ing Discoveries Mirror Maze inside Union Station also are open during the event.

St. Louis Union Station will continue its popular holiday fire and light show set to Christmas music on the train shed lake during the season. THE POLAR EXPRESS™ movie will be shown every night during the season.

Guests can get a head start on their holiday shopping at The Winter Market, which offers a holiday shopping experience inside the event space. Carnival games, strolling entertainers and holiday lights add to the festive atmosphere.

ROOM PACKAGES AT THE ST. LOUIS UNION STATION HOTEL
Guests can save 20 percent on their Believe! THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Experience tickets when they purchase a hotel package at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, a Curio Collection by Hilton. The hotel package includes tickets to Believe! THE POLAR EXPRESS Experience and deluxe accommodations or an exclusive holiday-decorated suite with turn-down service for the complete seasonal experience.

Book a hotel stay here: 
https://www.stlthepolarexpressride.com/hotel-packages

NEW THIS YEAR: PANCAKES WITH SANTA
Select Saturdays and Sundays in December, families can enjoy a special Pancakes with Santa breakfast in Union Station’s Grand Hall. Pancakes topped with strawberries and fun whipped cream Santa faces are served with bacon and milk for the kids or coffee for the grownups. Seatings are available at 9, 9:45, 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. on December 5 & 6, 12 & 13, and 19 & 20, 2020. Santa will visit with every child during the event. Tables will be placed at appropriate social distances and only one group will be seated at a table. Masks are required per City of St. Louis Health Department requirements.

Tickets are available at:
https://www.stlthepolarexpressride.com/pancakes-with-santa

There is so much to do this year at Union Station. It is worth a trip to visit and see what all the excitement is about. Our little family of four felt very comfortable wearing our masks, walking around, and enjoying everything Union Station has to offer. Just remember the three W’s. Wear your mask, Wait 6 feet apart, and Wash your hands!

Finding My Balance

Life isn’t always easy. You can become inundated with schedules, task after task, thoughts filled with the unimportant aspects of life and before you even know it a wrench gets thrown into the mix and wrecks havoc on any semblance of balance you may of had.

This year has been a major test for me in more ways than one. With covid keeping us indoors we work hard to balance staying safe with not going crazy with cabin fever. Finding new things to do to replace the fun we were accustomed to having in the past. Who knows where we would be if everyone would just wear a mask. I can’t imagine it being any worse.

With the protesting going on across the country I attempt to find a balance with parenting. What do I tell my kids, how do I explain the importance of equality? There needs to be a balance to educate them but also not scare them…. They are just kids.

And then there are my own personal struggles, dealing with my mother’s death, the hate surrounding the election, balancing work and home life, and so much more. It sometimes seems like it never ends.

Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.

Eckhart Tolle

So much pull in any direction can upset the balance in you. Staying on the right side of history is one thing, but an unbalanced you, that’s not healthy.

So to help with all of this, I have begun looking into mindful meditation. I do believe that some well thought out meditation can do wonders on your well-being. Using chakras as a guide to understand and break down my inner self into categories seems to help focus my own thoughts on specific aspects of my life. It already has been a very uplifting experience so far and I can only imagine the journey I will go through as I continue.

If meditation is too kooky of an idea for you, just try this, find a quiet spot, turn on your favorite album and just rest your eyes while relaxing in your favorite chair. When the album is over, open up your eyes, stretch and realize that you basically just meditated. Hopefully it made you feel a little better, even if you fell asleep.

The struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.

Chadwick Boseman

Spending those few minutes clearing my head and focusing on what is going on inside of my mind has helped me so much over these last few weeks since my mother had passed away. It’s all pseudoscience anyways and not based on any sort of reality. It’s all about feelings and emotion and like Dan Harmon once said, “Feelings are real but they arn’t reality.”

As long as I am finding my balance, I think that is all that matters.

Gadgets And Gizmos For Your Christmas List

Christmas is almost here once again and for many of us this year it feels like the last time life was normal was Christmas last year! 

If you are looking to start planning for your family Christmas early this year, you have likely already looked at some gadgets and gizmos to buy for yourself and your loved ones. Today we want to share some of the fun items you can buy for the family as a whole and as gifts for your children and partner. There are so many fun pieces of technology out there and today we are going to take a look at some of the things you could invest in this Christmas. 

A New TV 

Rather than buying some smaller gadgets for different members of your family it might be a better idea for but something that everyone can benefit from. A TV is a staple in any modern home and you should invest in one which has great resolution, a big screen, and will last for years to come. Buying the family a new TV for Christmas might not seem like the most exciting of things but you’ll be able to watch all of your festive favourites on a huge screen this winter! 

A PS5 

The PS5 is the newest of Sony’s Playstations to arrive on the market and already there are some amazing games available for it. From Assassins Creed Valhalla to FIFA 21 and a revamped GTA V – there are tons of games available on this console to keep everyone in the family occupied for hours and hours. This could be a great gift for your child this festive season or even as a treat for yourself after a tough year. 

A Tablet 

Every man and his dog has a tablet these days, and these small gadgets have become a useful addition to your technological arsenal at home. There are plenty of brilliant tablets under 200 if you don’t want to fork out on an iPad and you’ll have hours of fun watching films and tv, playing games, and even doing work all in one place. Tablets are a useful tool and can be a great gift to give someone you care about this Christmas. 

Phillips Hue light strips 

If you are looking for something which will add an air of magic and wonder to your living room setup – Phillips hue lights are the way to go. You can opt to buy bulbs for your lights and lamps which will turn on and off at the tap of an app – or perhaps you want to use a light strip to enhance your cinema experience. Phillips hue light strips can be fitted to the top of your tv, and they will be able to read and translate what is on the screen and emit light of the same colour as you watch. It will make all of those superhero flicks even more impressive and immerse you in their world. 

An Instant Pot 

An instant pot is the perfect gift for the cook in your life and it offers many functions in one small device. From slow cooking to sauté and rice cooking, it’s the ideal one pit gadget for anyone who loves to cook! 

October Surprises!

What a month! It was so jammed packed with fun that it took me an extra nine days just to write this post! Okay, not really, but October was a good month for candy, costumes, and more! Check out my October 2020 wrap-up below.

We kicked off October with #inktober2020. Abby, Alex, and I each did 31 different illustrations through-out the month of October using prompts provided by Inktober. It was a lot of fun sitting with the kids and doing our drawings each night. There were lots of fun and interesting ideas brought to the table by each of us. Check out my Instagram at dadSTL and Abby’s Instagram at AbbyDoodlesArt to see all of our awesome work!

One of the sadder days of October had us spending the day packing up and moving some of my mom’s stuff. My mom was a wonderful person and had so many ideas and projects, unfortunately she teetered on the line of hoarding. So this move was definitely a big project, one that is far from finished, but we made a big dent. There were a lot of memories packed away. We will eventually make our way through all of the boxes, it will just take some time.

In other crazy October news, a marina that I do web design work for caught on fire. That was a very interesting day.

Union Station had their Halloween Experience, so we had to check that out. It was a lot of fun and the kids had an absolute blast. Union Station has some of the coolest events during the various holidays. We are super excited for the new Polar Express setup this year. It looks so fun and unique compared to previous years!

Pumpkin painting, pumpkin patches, and trunk-or-treats filled up a few weekends for us. Halloween is always a great time of year to get together with family and start celebrating the end of the year! I think this year we did three different trunk-or-treats, one at a car dealership, one at a car show, and one at a church! We went to the Eagle Fork pumpkin patch this year as well, and to top it all off the kids even got to go trick-or-treating this year!

The night before Halloween was even a fun one for the kids. Mischief night as it is known to some, Devil’s night as known by others. The kids stayed with their mischievous aunt and uncle and decided to go out and cause mayhem as they toilet papered our house and sped off into the night!

This year the kids decided to dress up as Negan from The Walking Dead and Harley Quinn. I decided to dress up as the great and all powerful sorcerer. It was a lot of fun, I even read some tarot cards and predicted a few futures!

Finally, as Halloween came to a close, so did Daylight Savings and the time decided to fall back. So on the day after Halloween, we decided to smash our pumpkins for what will become a yearly tradition! Using a baseball bat, golf clubs, and a few other creative ideas the kids and I spent a couple hours smashing some pumpkins and then tossing the bits and pieces into our compost.

And there you have it! St. Louis Dad’s October! I am sure there is more, but I am getting old and tired, and it’s about time for my nap.