Then last year, around this time, I heard about the model train exhibit at our botanical gardens right here in DC (US Botanical Gardens)! I was psyched! I packed the kids up one cold December weekend and went early in the morning - but alas - we still had to wait on a pretty big line. We made it in after shivering a bit and then had to wait once we were in to get to see the the trains... at some point on the line outside the exhibit Jonah started screaming his head off - somehow he had glimpsed the sight of Thomas through the glass and was screaming - "Thomas, wait for me please! I am coming to see you! I love you so much Thomas the Train!" Seriously, he screamed this numerous times at the top of his lungs... and by the way, he was sitting on my shoulders as he was screaming this... We made it into the exhibit and both kids loved it - I loved it - and we moved slowly through. As we exited, Jonah started throwing a temper tantrum that he did not want to leave... I had to carry him in one arm, push the stroller with the other, through the botanical gardens and then of course I could not figure out how to get out... finally we were out - Jonah still having a melt down - he laid on the floor kicking and screaming while I sat on a bench and gave Vera some snack... Passers by either gave me a sympathetic knowing look (those who had recently been somehow responsible for 2 year old train obsessed boys) and others looked at me as if I was committing child abuse, ignoring my little 2 yr old on the floor in hysterics in the freezing cold.
This year I thought about it - should we go again? I discussed it with my kaleidoscope - we decided we would go early in the season, on a weekday and in the afternoon! I was a mom of two with a plan! We went this past Monday at 2pm.
We had a really good time. But.... there is always a but isn't there...
The "Seasons Greetings" exhibit (as it is called) was basically empty. No line to get in. No line once we got in. It sort took a bit of the excitement away from the whole experience, for me... is that weird?
Then when we got in, it was sort of small?!?! It is one room and it is a big room and has lots to see and tons of small details but it isn't half as big as I remembered it being. I am sure it had to do with the long line last time. But Jonah & Vera LOVED it! First, we checked out the the model DC buildings in the courtyards (Jonah & Vera both knew who lived in the White House replica-they answered OBAMA - confidently!) Then we entered the room with the trains! Jonah and Vera kept running around and looking at the all of the trains. They made some little friends and then all of them were obsessed with watching Thomas (yes, he was there this year too!) make his loop on the tracks and go through the tunnel! They really loved it. We hung out in the train exhibit for at least 30 minutes watching Thomas most of the time. Then we left without much to do - how about that for progress and maturity! Good job Jonah & Vera!!!! Then we took a nice little stroll through the jungle and desert gardens - and yes I sort of got lost again - clearly I didn't get any more experienced or mature in the past year. Finally we found our way out and took the path through the outside gardens to the car.
We were home by 4pm for snacks!
It was the perfect Monday afternoon train adventure. (although for me sort of anticlimactic - this I am learning is a good thing!)
It is funny to think back over our past train exhibit voyages in various botanical gardens. We keep chugging along at our own pace. We are getting older and wiser and "making tracks" as we go. We even picked up another passenger along the way. I am sure we have many many more train adventures to come and my crew & I are ready for whatever is next! Each time we learn something new and experience something fun - and Sir Topham Hat would be proud of us! En route to the next station, we are trying to cause much less "confusion and delay" -- I hope we are learning to be "really useful engines" on that railway they call life!
Chugga Chugga Choooo Chooo!
CHICAGOLAND HALLOWEEN 2010
CHICAGOLAND WINTER 2010
WASHINGTON DC 2011
WASHINGTON DC 2012
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