A Train Ride to Somewhere

This week Z and I were going to go with a bunch of mothers in my mothers group on a "Train Ride to Nowhere". One of our amazing mothers organized a trip for the train lovers in our group (most of them under 5) to ride our local commuter rail. The plan was to ride the commuter rail for a few stops, hang out on the train platform for a bit (eating snacks, reading train stories and playing games) and then return back to the original destination....BRILLIANT!

I was so excited about this opportunity for Z to take his first train ride until Saturday afternoon. That is when our weekend plans changed and Z and I had the chance to take a "Train Ride to Somewhere"!!! Because S missed his train on Saturday, he drove to meet our friends for a fun night on the town in Maine. Z and I stayed behind and visited with Noni and my family. On Sunday, we then took the train that S was suppose to take and we met him and our close friends for a wonderful tradition we have done for the last 6 Novembers, "Friends Thanksgiving".

When I first told Z that he was going to ride on a train his face lit up. He started to talk about how he hoped to see the "Conductor", the "driver" and "Sir Topham Hatt". He couldn't believe that he was going to ride on "Thomas"!!! I made the mistake of telling him after nap on Saturday so he kept asking about the train. I told him that when he woke up in the morning, we would get ready to go to the train station. He was so excited :)

Sunday morning came and we made our way to the train station. I packed light and we chatted about our journey and listened to our "Thomas" Soundtrack the whole way :) When we got to the station, we bought out tickets and then had the opportunity to see a train, going in the opposite direction. Z was awestruck! He has seen trains before but never this close up :) He just stared at it in disbelief and I think he was a little frightened. After it left he started to get really worked up and kept talking about the train and the conductor and how fast they went ;)

When our train finally came (it was delayed), Z grabbed my leg. He was a little timid about this new experience. We got in line (Z clutching his stuffed "Thomas") and he actually walked onto the train himself. The conductor greeted Z with a smile and said that he would be down to talk to us a little later :) Z and I found two open seats and he sat there wide eyed! The conductor came to greet him and chatted with him about how much he had loved trains when he was a little guy. Z stared at him, unable to speak :) When he left, Z started to chat away about the "conductor" and how he had his own train seat. He was so happy to be riding on that train.

Z and I spent our time on the train looking out the window, cuddling while reading a story, playing with both stuffed "Thomas" and wooden "Thomas" and of course...snacking :) With every stop, Z thought it was time to get off. When I told him we could go on another train ride, he said "Good". Towards the end of our trip we took a walk to the cafe cart...he thought this was very cool. We bought some pretzels and then returned to our seats for the remainder of the trip. I have been on many train rides before but this was by far the best one. It was so incredible to experience this for the first time with him. It is a memory I will always treasure :)

When we got off of the train, S was there waiting for us. It was nice to see him :) We then went to our friends, S and R for an amazing meal...more about that tomorrow :)