The Holiday Express is a train ride behind one of the two steam engines that are housed in Portland. The first weekend this year it was pulled by the SP&S 700 and the second weekend it was pulled by the SP 4449.
Haley's Dad took her to watch the 700 on the first weekend. They had a great time together. They spent the rest of the day looking at the pictures that he had taken of it. Haley loves talking about the steam and the smoke. She still says that it smells good.
I found out later in the day that Haley and her Dad actually took a spill on a slippery part of the trail. She hadn't told me about that. Her Dad said that she was surprised and it looked as if she was about to cry when he laughed it off and made some jokes. Then she laughed about it too and they went on.
She was really excited about seeing the 700 running and kept talking about taking a train ride. Her Dad had to admit that we had tickets for the following weekend. She even made him show them to her. That was all she would talk about all week long. "Tickets. Ride. One, two, three, four," because we had tickets for each on of us. Once she saw them she was fine. She was excited, but she never got upset like she has in the past when something fun doesn't happen fast enough.
So the next Saturday we got in the Yukon and headed out. We planned to go early this year so that Haley could get her shopping done before the ride. Her Big Sis needed to be somewhere right after the ride. Haley enjoyed walking around looking at all of the merchandise they had on display. She pointed at things and talked about them, but she wasn't picking things up or acting like she wanted any one thing. I needed to speed it along so I asked her if she wanted to buy anything. She was off like a shot picking up videos, calendars and t-shirts. I had to push past a few people just to keep up with her. I know she understands money and buying things now, but she was in such an excited state I was afraid that she would just fill her arms and head out.
She chose a calender of the SP 4449, a video (the second part of a series we already started buying her) and a shirt with the SP&S 700 on it. I think she would have taken one of everything, but I had to limit her a little bit. She also wanted a hot chocolate, but her Big Sis thought that maybe what she really wanted was the free cookie that went with it.
We got in line and listened to the volunteer explain about the engine and the trip. Then we got to get on the train. We chose a seat with a table and sat down and Haley opened up her bag of goodies to check everything out. She had also picked up a brochure about Amtrak that she (surprisingly) didn't already have, considering how much time we had been spending at the Amtrak station lately. There were brochures on the table when we sat down and she was quick to grab them and stuff them into her bag as well.
As we rode down the track we talked about what we saw out the window. Her Dad pointed out the places that they had stopped along the trail to take pictures the weekend before. He even pointed out where they both fell down. Haley pointed out the lights and the ornaments that decorated the inside of the car. Soon we heard the jingle of bells and we knew what to expect. Santa and his elves came in to our car and gave everyone candy canes. He stopped to take pictures with the children. I asked him if I could take a picture of him with Haley. I don't think that he realized she was a kid - she is getting so big these days.
We had a great time on the trip this year. Haley still talks about it. She says "Yeah, fun day!"
No comments:
Post a Comment