Train Show

Last weekend, I took the kids to a model train show.  Kevin had planned to go, but was feeling a bit off and decided that it would be best if he stayed home.  I was worried about keeping track of two kids who often like to run in opposite directions, but it worked out really well.  The kids were insanely well behaved (I saw many displays of behavior that made me very grateful for the two I have) and when we got home, Kevin had cleaned the house.  It was a disaster when we left, and so tidy when we returned.  It was magical.

Malcolm was just tall enough for most of the displays, but I picked him up often so that he could see better.

There were tons of model trains set up and running. We probably saw about half of them, and every time, Malcolm wanted to know, "What's that?" This is where Kevin would have been handy to have around, because he is very good with the detailed explanations. I tire out after the second time the question is asked.

She really wanted to touch the ones that were at her height and I must have said, "Just look, no touch," about 1,000 times.

I had to hold Dorothy up for most of the displays, so I really liked when there were some down low that she could see without help. My arms ached for a couple of days after the show from holding her so much and lifting him up so many times so that he could get a better view.

You would think we didn't have trains at home.

They took a little break and played at a couple of wooden train tables. Dorothy would have played longer, but Malcolm wanted to see everything he could. He also told just about every guy who was running a model train that for Christmas he got, "A train that goes by itself on the tracks."

It's a goofy smile, but he didn't want to stop to look at me for a picture.  It was too exciting to get to drive a real train.

This one was a very large set up where the kids could drive the trains. We plugged in the remote control and there was a dial to make the train go faster and slower. There were also horn, bell, and light buttons. We followed his Green Bay Packers train (we didn't get to choose) all around the tables unplugging and plugging in the remote as we went. Malcolm had to check the signals to make sure that his train was allowed to go. This one was one of his favorite things he did that day, and I'm glad we happened to get to the table early. We only had to wait 5-10 minutes for him to get a turn. I can only imagine how long the wait must have been later once it was more crowded.

Dorothy had been disappointed that she couldn't help at the other table.  I was glad to find one that she could do all by herself.

This was a table with a big Thomas train that was running. There were 4 or 5 little buttons that the kids could push to make things work. The button Dorothy has here makes the lights and bell on the train crossing sign go on.

This section is the "town".  To the left was the Star Wars section and around the corner to the right was the Harry Potter section.  I never got to go around to the other sides to see what they were.

I loved this Lego train display, but the kids were unimpressed and we moved on rather quickly.

The white part in the middle is a ski mountain and it had a sky lift up the mountain that was running.  Malcolm asked a lot of questions about the, "Trains on strings that go up in the air."

I loved that this one was down on the ground and that there were places where the kids could sit on the ground and watch the trains. This one was really big and had lots of trains running at once, so there was always something to see. I liked that I didn't have to hold anyone up.

He was actually more interested in the clamps and the construction of the base than with the whistle.

There was a guy who had rigged up a train whistle for the kids to blow. Dorothy was not impressed with how loud it was and wanted nothing to do with it.

He made a pretty neat set up, but was getting frustrated that other kids would come over and want to run trains on it.

The kids were having fun, but were getting a little antsy by this point, and luckily, there was a big red rug with plastic tracks for them to build with. We took a little break and let them wiggle around and build, and I tried not to think about how disgusting the rug and the tracks probably were. (This is a touring show and this set up has been to a lot of cities. I doubt it gets cleaned. Ever.)

Of course they wouldn't play together.  They each had to do their own thing and it was probably a good break for both of them.

The guy across the table is explaining how to race the trains.

We had to wait a long time, but Malcolm was very excited to get to race a train. This was another high point of his day.

You can see in the background how crowded it was.

The last thing we did that day was having the kids take a ride on Thomas. No, they are not Thomas fans, but they are fans of taking a train ride. Usually. I had asked them if they wanted to ride shortly after we arrived. We were near the ride and the line was a little long, but not crazy. Dorothy wanted to ride, but Malcolm was much too excited by all the electric trains and he talked her into not wanting to ride either. I wasn't going to wait in a line for the ride if they weren't going to actually ride, so we skipped it. Of course, once we were close to getting ready to wrap things up, they had to ride before they could go. They had been really good, so we walked all the way back to where we had been a couple of hours before and stood in the longest line known to man. Luckily, the ride was very short, so the line moved pretty fast.

I told him to hold on to Dorothy since there were not any real seats or straps and he took his job very seriously.  He held her really tight the entire ride.  I'm not sure she could breathe.

Overall, it was a very fun day and we will be checking to see if the show comes back next year.