Model Railroad Festival

This weekend there was a model railroad festival at the Union Station. We thought it sounded like a fun family activity, so we spent Saturday morning there.

The little train ride was particularly fun. Austin didn't want to go by himself, so Nate went with him.

We also explored the old historic engines and train cars that are at the station. We even got to go inside the mail car. The 833 below was a passenger steam engine known for its speed. It could go up to 110 mph. It was built in 1939, and there are only two others like it still around today. The large metal panels on its sides are called "elephant ears" and worked to deflect smoke from the cab and cars behind it.

Inside we saw a number of little model trains and some garden trains similar to what I remember seeing in Mr. Rodgers. One of the model train guys explained to us how some pieces of certain sets, like the tiny seagulls, were hand carved out of plastic.

Austin had a lot of fun playing in the room containing toy train sets and other interactive displays.

In another room there was a large lego display with some lego trains. There were also a number of lego projects that didn't have anything to do with trains, like the giant Helicarrier below.

The festival turned out to be a fun family outing. Afterwards we grabbed a frozen yogurt before heading home.

Snow!

Unfortunately, we haven't had much snow this year. We are concerned we will be put on drought restrictions again this summer, which is really hard on our yard. The lack of snow has also limited opportunities for fun snow activities such as sledding, snowshoeing, and just playing in the snow. So, we were very happy to see it snowing outside Tuesday morning.

Austin was particularly happy and wouldn't stop talking about going out and playing in the snow. I let him go out after the falling snow let up, and he was ecstatic! He grabbed his wagon and pulled it all over our yard. Zipper was also very happy, so the two of them had a great time.

Unfortunately, the snow didn't last long. It was mostly gone by that evening.

Austin's Valentine Pictures

For Valentine's Day, Austin's Sunbeam teachers, the Fifields, gave all their kids a coupon for a free Valentine photography session since they do photography. It was a nice gift, so we took advantage of it and ended up with some fun pictures!

Of course, Austin wasn't that interested in posing for lots of pictures. He was much more interested in eating the Valentine candy and playing with the Fifields' toy car. So, they even got a picture of him in his classic car playing position.