Monday, July 28, 2008

Train Trip!!!

Today my parents and I headed down to the Orlando Train Station to take the boys on a train ride to Tampa, Fl. When we got there we found out that the train was running 2 hours late (coming from New York-what happened to trains always being on time?) So we headed to the downtown library to kill the time. They were playing the movie Aladdin on a big screen tv so the boys watched with Nena while Asher and I walked around. He's walking so good! Then we got some McDonald's to eat and back to the station to wait for the train to come. The boys were SO excited!!!! When it finally drove up they just couldn't believe it!

Watching for the train...which way will it come from?
Asher hanging out with Papa waiting for the train

Inside the train station getting our tickets
Boston and the TrainDallas and the TrainTaking our tickets
We were able to get 4 seats all next to each other and the boys jumped in their seats more than ready for the ride. Asher and Boston were having a great time together. Asher kept pointing out and saying something. Boston just kept laughing and pointing with them. They were so cute!Asher usually takes 2 naps but he didn't want to miss a thing on the train so he skipped both of them and then fell asleep in my moms arms as we were pulling into the Tampa Train StationThanks to my dad for driving over to Tampa to pick us up!!!! He's such a trooper!!! The smile on Boston and Dallas' faces was just adorable. Throughout the ride Boston just kept saying, "This is the best day I ever had!" and "this is the most fun things I've ever done!" Oh yes...the the boys called the train a bullet train because it sure did look like one. Not like the steamer engines from Thomas the Train. Boston looked out one window and had his face GLUED to the window the whole time. Dallas enjoyed looking at all the other trains but got a little tired of it after a while. After a little while of sitting, and Dallas starting to get a little tired of sitting, we headed to the dining car. But first we found the lounge car, which I thought was the dining car, and got our snacks at the counter and then found out there was an actual dining car.
The boys in the dining carSo we just walked down to see it and walked back to sit in the lounge car and eat our snacks. This was my favorite part of the trip for sure. It was nice and open with great windows in there. Boston didn't want anything to eat, just wanted a teaDallas wanted his new favorite, Rice Krispies, and ate them all! Then the boys and I went to explore a little more while Nena and Asher sat in the lounge car. We went to see the sleeper car and the maid was making a bed and asked the boys if they wanted to help. They just laughed and ran down the hall. We had seen the conductor in the hall on the phone and he had said hi but then while walking a little further he saw us as he was sitting in one of the sleeper rooms doing some paperwork. He asked if it was the boys first time on a train and then invited us into the sleeping room to check it out. He was so great to show us it all and where everyone sleeps. Then he asked to take a picture with the boys and who wanted to wear his hat. Dallas was very quick to answer, "yes!" They just LOVED it! Defiantly a highlight. They were walking on clouds back to the lounge car. Boston was looking and looking for Tampa and so excited when we got there. Papa was there waiting for us when we got off the train. Then we headed to find the Gasparilla Pirate Ship and Papa sure enough found it for us! Wow, a real live pirate ship! A train and pirate ship all in one day...the boys were grinning ear to ear!!! They just couldn't get enough of the ship. We weren't able to get on it but looking was good enough. They examined it and looked for everything, steering wheel, plank to walk on, ropes, cabin, everything! Looking forward to coming back to the parade next year. Daddy already has it on our calendar.


We headed home, stopped by a fruit and veggie stand, had some great dinner at Bob Evans (all 3 of the boys ate every single bit of their food!), got home and headed to bed. What a great day. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my parents for all they did for us today. It was an amazingly fun day!

3 comments:

Lori said...

That sounds like so much fun!!! We might have to do that ourselves!!

Chelle said...

How fun! What a really cool day!

Pickens said...

These are great pictures of the trip! I love the one with the two boys and the conductor! I hope you had fun at the beach!