Train Trip

Gramma took us on a real train ride during our visit. Nathan had never been on a real train before - at least not one that actually went somewhere. In fact, none of us had ever been on a real train before. We took the MARC train to downtown Washington, DC for a few hours one morning.

We got our tickets and waited on the platform for our train to arrive. 

We got excited when the first train approached. Gramma was holding Faith, and Nathan was standing off on his own watching in awe. But the first train wasn't our's - it was a high speed Amtrak train. And boy did it go FAST!! None of us expected how fast it was traveling - or the wind it would produce! It scared us all for a second, as Nathan stood frozen and I swept him closer to me and the stroller took off on it's own down the platform. We were left to wonder if our train would go that fast, too.

With every additional passing train, Nathan sat on the bench and covered his face with his engineer's hat. They all scared him. Though there were no more high speed trains that passed our way. 

 Faith, little miss fearless, was unbothered by the trains. She was just having fun waiting with us all. And, I think she knows she's cute ;-)

 When our train came, it was time to get on!

The conductor leaned out the side and hollered, "All Aboard!"

And Nathan's fear turned back to excitement.

Nathan on his first train ride - I think he loved it! 

 Faith loved snuggling with Gramma. I think she was tired..

After a 20 minute (or so) ride, we got to our destination - Union Station in Washington, DC.

We walked around outside to see if we could see the capitol.

We couldn't, but we did find a big bell!

 Back inside Union Station, we browsed the shops - Gramma looked for a toy choo choo train to get Nathan & Faith - something that said "Washington, DC". You'd think, at a train station, there'd be plenty of gift shops selling trains. Not the case... But the kids did find silly hats!  

Faith had a great time playing dress up -

she adores all kinds of hats!.

After lunch in Union Station, we headed back to our original location so the kids could get home and nap. Nathan and Gramma looked at the map to figure out how many stops we would have before getting off the train. 

The kids had a great time on the train!!

And so did Gramma & I ;-)