trains, trains, trains

The Mayor loves trains. That is no secret. His big boy bed is made up with a train quilt, he has 2 train tables, wooden and plastic train tracks and he has quite the collection of metal and wooden Thomas trains. He loves trains. So when I found out there was a train museum about 10 miles from our home, it was a no-brainer. When we pulled into the parking lot and he laid his eyes on the enormous trains sitting on the track he said "OH, I see BIG choo-choos!" and then he let out a huge "CHOO CHOO".

Yesterday was one of the best outings we have ever had with him. It was just the 3 of us, D, The Mayor and myself. Love Bug was being lovingly watched by her Mamie and PopPop. Not only was it so enjoyable because he was so well-behaved but because we were doing something that he absolutely loves. The museum had trains inside and outside and you could go into the trains and look around. There were train cars from the late 1800s all the way to the 1970s. We got to walk through old mail cars, train cars that had huge kitchens in the them, train cars with old passenger sleep quarters from 1910s. It was so cool; you couldn't help thinking about who had slept in those beds or what types of letters were taken across country in that mail car. I imagined some of the best love letters going back and forth between star-crossed lovers or a letter being sent to a mother whose son was fighting in a war.

The highlight of the outing was a 10 minute train ride. We climbed into the old train car, climbed up a tiny ladder so The Mayor could sit on these really cool elevated chairs. He was amazed at how high he was and how he could look out the window at the world below him.

On this short ride we decided we were going to take a vacation to Washington DC and let a train take us there. Oh, the things we do for our children...it is going to be a blast.

the trains we saw when we first pulled in...the mayor was so excited

getting ready to go into the museum

climbing into one of the trains

on our train ride

waving bye-bye to the station

on an old steam tractor

what's an outing without a stop at Chick-fil-a for lunch and ice cream?