Today we took a trip down to Calera to go to the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum.
Turns out the museum... wasn't much. The gift shop was small, but the kids of course wanted almost every thing in it. Benjo really wanted a Thomas the Train kite but couldn't afford it in his budget. Amy decided to pitch in well over half of what was left in her budget to get it for him.
The Kite
He also wanted a Thomas the Train ball and Noel asked if she could use some Christmas gift money to get it for him, since she already bought her sibling gifts and hadn't used her whole amount for that. I love it when they show acts of kindness like these for each other. It's one of the greatest joys of parenthood for me!
I never even made it into the museum, but here's what I was told about it: it was quite small. In fact, it almost wasn't a museum. It was more... a couple rooms decorated with lots of train-ey stuff.
Luckily we were there for more than just the museum. Today was the last day the train was running it's 30-ish minute round trip of the season AND it was a Christmas train with Santa and the works! We arrived early to see the museum, though you might guess it didn't take as long as we thought.
Unluckily, when Bonnie went to get tickets, they were sold out already! The lady told her to come back in 30 minutes to talk with a supervisor and see what could perhaps be arranged.
Luckily, when Bonnie checked back in, a lady planning a group of 14 had half her group not show. The train people wouldn't refund her tickets, however we were welcome to buy them from her directly!
Unluckily, well, nothing. See, I feel like this little paragraph needed to start with the word unluckily to keep following the pattern I had going, but it didn't, so that was unlucky, but it's really rather lucky because it was one good thing after another from there! So...
Luckily, as Bonnie was getting her money out of the wallet and confirming the price, the lady said "how about a hug." Hugs were given and the train was boarded!
While in line to board, Bonnie was reflecting on an impression she had during scripture study this morning. She felt inspired that today was a day to do God's work. She'd thought maybe He'd have her buy train tickets for someone else. In that moment of reflection, she suddenly knew that she got to do God's work today by receiving instead of giving.
What a beautiful blessing! Turns out luckily and unluckily didn't have much to do with it all anyway.
For various logistical reasons, Amy, Rebekah, and I didn't go on the train ride...
She took a great 3+ hour nap today!
Benjo was SO happy to get to go! Evidently he was too happy to wear his jacket even though it was chilly.
A classic Benjo making a face for the camera.
Noel took charge of taking pictures. We ended up with lots... and only a few interesting. 😂
Noel really liked the letters in the train car though. Hmmmm... wonder why?
They loved looking out the window.
And seeing what they could see!
And of course, there was Santa. They decided they only wanted pictures if they could put funny filters on them though. So...
Evidently Santa is now also one of his own reindeer.
Is that like being my own grandpa?
Overall, they were just happy with the experience of riding on the train.
When I asked Ben his about what he liked most, he said: I LOVE trains. And when he says LOVE, it's with a growl sound and it's big and it's loud! It's at the top of his list of all our experiences thus far.
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