Trains and Planes!

So in my attempt to "mix things up" with the hum and drum that can be the summer break, between all the packing and unpacking and moving prep we totally have to take the time out to do some fun! I realized that my kids have NEVER actually ridden on a REAL TRAIN. We LOVE trains, play with them, read books about them, talk about them, get excited to see them......so I remembered this fabulous park called Haggard Park in Plano not too far from us that is actually a stop on the real commuter train in Dallas called the DART. There is even a museum there and an original mail train car that you can tour.

We decided to pack a picnic lunch and ride the dart a bit then go to the museum and eat lunch and play at the park. I was so grateful for my dad who was able to tag along and give me an extra set of hands. Up until the last minute I wasn't sure if any of my mom with kids friends were going to be able to make it and the idea of managing 3 kids on something new and exciting like a train ride can be a little overwhelming. But in the end my friend Julie and her older 2 boys did come and we were glad to have them along because they were professional DART riders!

We even had a moment of mercy. I'm a pretty friendly gal and chat up pretty much any mom with kids. One got on the train with us and she asked us where we were going. My response was nowhere really, we were just riding the train for something to do and then we were going to picnic at the park. MAN WAS I GLAD I TOLD HER. Braden HAD to bring along his Thomas the Train back pack--insisted on it. And then, you guessed it, when we switched trains he forgot to grab it and although we realized it quickly the trains move on down the line. MIRACLE of MIRACLES this woman grabbed the backpack and a couple hours later knew exactly where to find us. HORRAY!!


It was a busy week because then a couple days later we hit the Airplane Museum that's out by Love Field. The tour part was a little crazy. The tour guides are these nice retired gentlemen who actually flew some of the kinds of planes on display and know a lot. But they're not the most patient or understanding about what kids need or would be interested in. So he passed up a lot of stuff we would have LOVED to spend more time on and he kind of labeled us as a troublesome group with wild kids who were going to tear the place down to the studs so that was kind of a let down......see? here we are on the tour, don't we look excited and engaged?

This was a cool thing, the Apollo Capsules was on display for us to see!

But at the end there was a Jay Jay the Jet plane play area and we had a lot of fun with that.

What a week full of fun huh?