In an effort to force us out of the house a few times each week (we have a tendency to be home-bodies), I set up a few mandatory activities each week this summer. Mandatory meaning I’ll kick myself if I let them slide and the kids know to expect them therefore pushing me to do them.
A weekly field trip is one of these mandatory activities. So far, so good.
Our first field trip of the summer was to the train museum at Union Station. The boys love trains and were very excited to be there. The big boys had been once before, but it was a first time visit for the rest of us.
Rusty’s favorite part of the museum was a room filled with train pieces. Bad description but about as good as I can do. There was part of a locomotive that they could climb in and push buttons and make the train honk, as well as other train parts.
Rusty climbed in and out and push and pulled to his heart’s content.
Grandmama even got in on some of the action!
Some of these pictures are awful because my camera battery died and I had to use my iPod. It doesn’t always take great shots.
There was an area with a train table set up and the two older boys entertained themselves while Rusty continued his exploring.
We missed it the first time through, so we had to double back … you can’t leave without playing in the caboose!
(Grandpa Brent, this caboose was green – not red, sadly!)
Billy was very proud of himself for climbing up to these seats all by himself. He wasn’t too proud to ask for help down though.
Tommy hung out in the stroller the whole time. He didn’t mind. He quite likes going for stroller rides.
After exploring the train museum, we stopped in at the classic car museum. The cars were pretty cool and the volunteer lady was adamant about not touching ANYTHING. She kept talking to me about keeping an eye on my children for so long that they made it through the whole museum before she was finished … it isn’t very big.
At the end of the row of cars, Ricky said, “The cars keep going, but how do we get to the other side, Momma?” It did look like the cars went on farther, but there was no other side … it was just a big mirror behind the last car. Even after I explained it to Ricky, it took him a few looks to believe me.
Outside the museum there are more trains to climb on and explore.
The boys recognized several trains from watching Thomas the Tank Engine. I don’t know if they were right or wrong though – I don’t pay as close of attention I guess.
As we walked down these paths between the trains, Tommy would start giggling and lean way out to touch these cement pillars. He did this to every single one. I never did figure out what he thought was so fun about the game, but he loved it.
It was a great field trip to start our summer off.
