Choo Choo!

Today was probably the most fun I've had with Dominic in a long time. We have been anticipating the arrival of a historic train of Union Pacific that was making a stop in our city for 30 minutes. We've talked about this for days now that he'll be able to get up close and personal with a steamie!! I went and picked him up from school at 9:30 and we showed up early and watched it come in on the track. I was hoping he would be able to get onboard, but unfortunately they only let the kids come on for the first 5 minutes and stopped for some reason. I don't think he cared too much though, I know he wanted on, he asked me even, but I told him that we would be taking a ride on the Thomas train when it came in June.

Here's a video of the train stopping and going. You'll hear Damien screaming occasionally. He was so upset by the horn.

The size of this thing was unbelievable. One wheel on the engine alone was atleast 6 ft high and the about 4 ft wide. I had decided to make this a daycare fieldtrip which was probably not a good thing because all three babies freaked out as soon as Engine 844 started tooting it's horn approaching the Depot. I had no idea that it would be so extremely loud. The diesel trains that rip through town everyday are no where as loud as these old steamies. Since all three babies were bawling (I mean absolute horror stricken being killed bawling) several people approached to help. N was so upset a woman held him for 10 minutes while he sobbed. Damien stopped as soon as I picked him up and Kayla as soon as the horn went off the first time, she fell to the ground like it was an airstrike with her hands over her head. Kelsey and Dominic were happy and wowed by the size and sounds. After it stopped steam poured from the pipe and from the bottom and hissed. I stood there forever wondering where the heck my help was. My grandmother was supposed to help but there were so many people (I wasn't expecting 100's) it took a good 30 mintues to find her. Finally I found her via cell phone and I put the babies in the car (all were still in a state of shock and bawling) then took Kelsey and Dominic up to see the thing while my grandmother watched the babes for a bit.

In all it was a great morning. A lot of the older men there were almost looking for someone to share their old railroad stories with. I had a few just start talking to me about the 50's and riding engines like this one. When it was time for it to leave, they cleared the tracks and we watched from the van as it started chuggin away. Then the horn went off and the babies started bawling again. Damien was going beserk freaking out. Everytime the horn went off he stopped crying almost as if he was choking from fear. It was funny yet sad! Poor guy! The horn went off about 10 times as it left. Dominic was actually pretty calm as it took off and left. I figured he'd chase it down the tracks but he watched it smiling. I'm glad we were able to do this.