Railroad Day--Friday

We spent all day Friday doing train stuff, much to Sam's delight! After a yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and fresh melon, brought to our door by our hostess Melanie, we were off to Strasburg for the day. We started off at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The museum consists of a large building filled with various trains--some older, some newer (but the older ones are the neatest!), as well as a yard full of trains that are waiting to be restored. The only complaint I had from the day was that the weather was so HOT, and the main exhibit hall is not air conditioned. So after a few hours of walking around with Julia on my back, it got pretty uncomfortable. Still, we had a great time and it was worth it to see both my guys having so much fun. :)

A big railroad guy and little railroad guy
Exploring the train yard
After looking . . . and looking . . . and looking at trains, we took the kids into a separate area called Stewart's Junction. Here they have all kinds of interactive train stuff for kids to play with, including Thomas tables. This area was air conditioned (yay!) and the kids had a wonderful time playing. Julia was especially happy to get out of the backpack.

After spending all morning at the museum, we headed across the street to the Strasburg Rail Road. We had promised Sam a ride on the train, which he was very excited about. We bought our tickets for the 2 pm ride, then went into the restaurant there at the station to eat lunch. It was WAY overpriced . . . note for next time: go a little farther away for something cheaper. :) But it did feel good to get some food in our tummies and also to get large drinks, as we were super thirsty from the heat of the day. We finished lunch in plenty of time to go outside and see the train coming into the station. We got to board (we had chosen one of the open air cars) and Jim took some pictures while we waited to start.

Big steam engine
Mommy & Julia
The ride was about 45 minutes round trip. We got to go past some Amish farms, where we could see a farmer plowing his field, horses and cows, etc. We also went past the Ebenshade's Turkey Farm, which is the oldest turkey farm in the country. And we passed a cornfield, where a bunch of people were working on mapping out a corn maze. The train stopped in the countryside of Paradise, then the engine switched to the other end and took us back to the station.

Sam enjoys the ride
The train actually put both kiddos to sleep! They were very tired from their busy morning. :)

After the ride, we spent some time looking around in the stores there at the station, buying postcards, and a small wooden train whistle for Sam. Then we headed back to the museum (our passes were good until 5 pm) and spent a little more time looking around, and letting the kids play in Stewart's Junction a bit more.

This whole day was extra special, because Jim had actually been to both the museum and Strasburg Rail Road before, when he was little. We have home videos that his grandfather took when they went there, so it is really neat that now we could take our own little ones there and see the same sights (even though some things have undoubtedly changed a bit in 25 or so years!).

On the way back to the farm, we stopped and got some groceries for the next few nights' suppers--easy stuff like boxed mac 'n cheese, frozen pizza, and hamburger. When we got back, I set about making some mac 'n cheese while the kids played. Jim was helping me with something, and all of the sudden he looked over at Julia and exclaimed, "Look at her! She's taking steps!!" Yes, out of the blue, she suddenly decided it was time to start walking. It was so funny how she did it at a time when no one was coaxing her; no one was even watching her! She was very pleased with her new accomplishment and kept practicing it for a while, and Jim was even able to take a little video of it. It's neat that we will always have a special memory of Julia taking her first steps while on vacation. :)

After showers and baths, we headed for bed, all tuckered out from our very busy, but fun day!

Next installment: The wedding--Saturday