A while back I heard that somewhere in PA you can ride on Thomas the train and after some investigation I realized its a tour and they swing into our area 2-3 times a year. Last week we decided to look into tickets for this past weekend and that was that.
We told Asher that Thomas was coming from Sodor and he was going to be in this place called Pennsylvania so Friday after art class we were going to go there. We kept it pretty casual and besides finding a hotel with a pool we didn’t make too many plans.
Friday afternoon Asher and Matthew took a dip then we met my old work friend Jamie and her family for dinner. We probably haven’t seen each other in 8 years but we’ve kept in touch via the internets so when we decided to go I emailed and we made plans for our (semi) blind date. They live in the area and have a 2 year old who digs trains so we got to hang with them on Saturday too.
I like Jamie because it was barely 10am when I busted her eating cheese fries and she just laughed. That’s my kind of peeps.
As you can see its a very glamorous place.
They tell you to get there an hour before your train ride and we were like whatever but then we had to park a mile away and walk over through mud so yeah, get there a little early. The good part is that we didn’t have to wait on line. The bad part is that Asher was Very Rushed and Asher does not like to be Very Rushed so he was a grump for the first hour. Also, Matthew had to run while holding his coffee. (sad trombone)
He warmed up a bit on the ride. Since we were “not early” he didn’t really know we were riding on Thomas until we got off and walked to the front.
As you can tell by our 17 different views of Thomas we basically spent the entire time watching the trains pull in and out of the station (vu den?) The Thomas train ran every 30 minutes but they also had what Asher refers to as “Big Black Steam Engine” for obvious reasons.
Luckily Big Black Steam Engine was fairly exciting in its own right, what with a coal tender and all. There was a bunch of other stuff to do, both Thomas related and not. We poked into the music tent, the storytime tent, the train table tent and our favorite part – this ride on a small train I referred to as the Hayride Train. because that’s basically what it looked like.
They also had teeny tiny donuts. Too bad the kids didn’t like them.
The Strasburg Railroad is actually a really cool place we didn’t get to see all that much of. They also have a railway museum and there’s tons of stuff around there for kids. We saw cows, horses and goats from the car and Asher was almost as excited about that as he was the trains. I think we’ll head back when the weather is nicer and do some more exploring. We didn’t even get to pick up any jam!
While we were in Montreal we headed over to the Biodome, an indoor environment showcasing 4 different ecosystems. We saw tons of birds and fish plus loads of other animals living in their natural habitat. Asher even got to touch a starfish.
and he doesn’t even like sports. This is hilarious to me because his work life will be torture for the next week and a half living in Football Country. My work life will also be torture because I’m leaving for Vegas in the morning for a week onsite and well, its just going to be a ton of work.*
He sent me a link to this pic that ran in the Star-Telegram (whatever the hell that is) and now you can see what he does all day.
As the photo implies, “pushing buttons” is his main job function. I am sure he is very good at it.
ESPN’s Matthew Piercy, a lighting programmer, working on the computerized lighting on the main set. The Cradle of Champions sculpture will have its official unveiling at 11am near the Chisholm Trail Mural, also the site of ESPN’s broadcasting center, in downtown Fort Worth. Also, an inside look at the ESPN TV set. Photographed Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Paul Moseley)
Like I mentioned yesterday we used to travel a lot during holidays. Thanksgiving in Amsterdam one year, Christmas in Dublin the next. This was mostly due to our freelance work schedule, its pretty dead around the holidays and if we aren’t getting paid we might as well use the time to our advantage. In 2006 we spent the week between Christmas and New Years in London and Edinburgh. Definitely kind of chilly, but also really awesome in a way you cannot duplicate in the spring or summer.
Inspirational Christmas Decorations:
(London, 2006)
Carrying torches in a mob of thousands for Hogmanay
In a place where they let SMALL CHILDREN carry torches for Hogmanay
(Scotland, 2006)
While were were sorting through the crates of Christmas decos we found a small box with a New York theme and I immediately flashed back to that Christmas in London. We spent a few days visiting Matthew’s cousins (for lack of a better term) that were living there for the year with their 2 girls. We brought a bunch of NY themed gifts to open upon arrival since we were flying in Christmas morning and totally crashing their breakfast.
I knew the box immediately but couldn’t really remember why we came back with it until I opened it up and saw what was inside.
Ornaments.
Ornaments from Harrods.
They are just so pretty I can’t stand it! Its like receiving a gift from the Bari of Christmas Past
Dear Past Bari,
You did a nice job on the ornaments, although I see you were always awfully fond of pink.
We took a ride up to Montreal this weekend to visit my sister-in-law Theresa and her family. As always, we had an awesome time just hanging out, laughing, eating good food and staying up too late. It was especially fun since it was the first time the kids were old enough to acknowledge each other. I can honestly say I do not know which one of the two were more excited to see the other in the morning.
Our weekend was filled with screams of “ASH-AY!” from my niece Liliane who turns 3 in October. Lucky for her they are coming to see us next month…Or should I say lucky for Theresa and her husband Stephane. Asher had a blast playing with her toys and flashing his cheesy new grin at her.
There is a wading pool a short walk from their apartment so we headed over for a dip. Unfortunately I imagined a much smaller pool that Asher could sort of crawl in and out of and neither Matthew or I were prepared for the soaking that ensued. Matthew especially wasn’t prepared to fall while stepping into it, and I sadly wasn’t prepared with my video camera in hand.
Much time was spent in PJs and it took a bit of juggling to manage 2 nap and sleep schedules (a nice lesson for all)
On the last day I tried to get a great picture to cherish for years to come. Instead I got these:
In November ’07 we went to Paris for Thanksgiving week and it was awesome. The first night we were there we had reservations at this place Hidden Kitchen, which was basically an underground restaurant it this couple’s house. I had read about it on a food blog and I’m a little crazy so we got ourselves on the list. After a late landing in the morning, practically missing our walking tour and a SIM card that wouldn’t work we had a shitty but exciting day. There was a metro strike and it took us 90 minutes to get there, eventually on foot. It was a weird night but really fun. We had an amazing time and stayed until the wee hours all jetlagged and silly.
I dug up this old pic of the menu:
I have thought about those 2 crazy kids over the past few years but without another trip to paris planned, didn’t bother investigating what they were up to.
To my surprise they were featured as a sneak peak on Design Sponge today. Needless to say this is a NEW place since we’ve been. They weren’t exactly “consultants for restaurants and food retail companies” back then but they were warm and sweet and had a great playlist on all night and a very friendly pup. It makes me so happy to see them succeed. Definitely, definitely try and go if you can while you are there. Our dinner was one of the highlights of our trip.
