Monday, August 24, 2009

Railroad Days, Etc.

Ian has had a fairly routine August with school, swimming, and Grandma Trish Fridays. Weekends are usually split with me and Shawn. I am always off on a hike one day and Shawn on a dive the other. This past weekend, I did not schedule a hike, but Shawn had a dive, then we laid low Sunday with a much needed at home day.

Saturday, he and I walked down to Snoqualmie Railroad Days, which is our town's big festival to celebrate it's rail history. There is a nice Railroad Museum that runs year round and dozens of retired trains line the roadway into town. This is one of the few times, aside from Christmas or the "Day out with Thomas" that they actually run one of the "people cars", as Ian calls it, but he was definitely not interested in that feature of the festival. He announced that he "likes them better when they're still". More than anything, the whistle is too loud, and the train seems unpredictable. I'm not sure he trusts that it's going to stay on the track (after all, his little ones don't, so why should the huge one).

The highlight of the day was the model train exhibit. He could have spent the entire day watching and studying that thing. I think I know what to collect for him. Now just to figure out what "class", as that is a very pivotal part of train collecting. Time to go talk to the people at the hobby shop, I guess! While other kids would watch for a few seconds and move on, he was riveted. He was concentrating on the fine details. He is so much more detail oriented than your average 3 year old.

We stopped at the gift shop, where I was fully prepared to cave in to a selection from the wall of Thomas gear, but he picked 2 very small manual operating trains that were $2.75 each. Added a book about trains and we were out of there for under $12. We walked back and, because it was warmer than I had dressed him for, I carried him most of the 1/2 mile or so to the car. Thank goodness all my hiking has me conditioned for this kind of thing. He is 36 pounds now and much too awkward to carry for long distances.

We also made a trip to the dog park, and since those pictures all tend to look the same, I'll spare most. He did discover blackberries (blueberries, he calls them) and we ate our fill along one of the many park trails. Great way to spend an afternoon.

This week is his last week in his Early Preschool class. He moves with the rest of his classmates on Sept. 1st to the Preschool class. I am so glad I fought a good fight and encouraged his teachers to let him come in underpants. He had one accident all week last week. ONE!

He has had zero accidents at home for several weeks now, which brings me a little closer to admitting that I might just have a pottytrained little boy. Six months ago, this seemed such a distant hope, but it really did happen. Saturday was our last sticker chart day. I give it most of the credit. Now, M&M's are reserved for when he pulls his pants up after potty. Once that is mastered, we'll have to include pulling his pants down...then snaps & zippers. Wow. The challenges of being 3!

Tomorrow, he is going on a hike with me! I bought him his very own hydration pack and as long as the weather holds, we'll be going to Twin Falls State Park in North Bend for a short 1.5 mile hike (round trip) to two waterfalls. I've coached him that he can only come if he walks like a big boy. He agreed, but we'll see. Regardless, it should be a fun afternoon. I'm sure there will be great pics!

We are less than 2 weeks away from our trip to Maui. Only a few posts away from saying Aloha!


Polli likes the dog park any day, but LOVES to go with Ian.



Karate Kid or Tip Toe-ing thru the Tulips?


Too tired to go on!


He's getting pretty good at walking Polli... and she is really good about not pulling. I think she knows she's stronger than he is.


Trying out his new swimming goggles

He looks just like daddy!


Walking the tracks to Snoqualmie Railroad Days


He looks so small next to this train





His favorite engine. He had a hard time with the fact that the engine was "connected" in the front to a box car. That seemed ridiculous to him.





Another cool car




Trains are serious business




Explaining locomotives




Still a long way to the station







Watching the model train exhibit. He was glued to the glass.





He noticed some small details I missed, including one train that had small lights inside and another carrying animals. He said "Mommy, that's a stock car!"


Reinacting Railroad Days


3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the pictures. It looks like a really great day.

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  2. I'm not sure why, but the font is all showing up with lines through it. . . I guess you know that by now. . .

    I miss the train days. My older two went thru a similar obsession and we had so much fun with it all. The younger one never really ever had an interest in them. He's more about GI Joe right now. And back at 3, he was into Rescue Heroes.

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  3. The font is o.k. for me. I can read everything fine.

    ReplyDelete