Vacation 2013: Day 15 - New Years Day

Vacations shouldn't last 15 days.  That's how I felt when I woke up on New Years Day.  I was exhausted. On top of being tired I was sick.  I'd picked up a nasty cough the last day we were in Utah and I was still trying to get rid of it.  But I'd been the first adult to go to bed the night before and so I felt it was my obligation to get up with the kids.  I groggily poured the kids some cereal and tried to wake myself up.  

I was still sleepy when Bryan, Kara, and Brandon got up.  Brandon could tell I wasn't doing too well so he sent me back to bed. I slept until around 11:00.  

Brandon woke me up and told me that we were going to go to a train park.  Honesty, if it had been anything other than a train park I would have rolled over, told him to leave Veronica, and go have a good time with the three older kids.  But I can't say no to trains.  

Everyone was pretty much ready so I hurried and got myself ready and then fed Veronica.  I felt like I was moving through sand as I tried to buckle her into her car seat.  Bryan asked me if I was okay.  I told him, "I haven't felt this tired since I was pregnant."  Brandon got very worried when I said that. 

We went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The first thing we did was have lunch in a pavilion that also had this statue of Bill Keene with the Family Circus kids.  

The statue had this plaque that I really liked.  

Lunch helped me feel a little better.  I think part of my problem was that I had been eating a lot of junk food over the past few weeks.  Brandon and Kara bought our tickets so we could ride the little train at the park.  While Brandon was inside I tried to keep track of the kids, but they were all running around and it was too much for my tired brain and body to handle.  By the time he came out with the tickets I was feeling pretty anxious.

As we waited in line Veronica was crying in the front pack which didn't help my nerves at all.  Then the train pulled into the station.  It was loud and so Charlotte, Lydia, and Derrick all started crying.  Poor Brandon suddenly had to deal with all 5 members of his family freaking out at the same time.

Thankfully the kids calmed down once they saw other people get on the train.  So we were able to avoid creating a scene.  We found a car big enough for our group and sat down.

  Here are the amazing dads.

And the beautiful mamas.  My nerves calmed down once we were all seated.  So I was able to enjoy the ride.  

I'm so glad we were able to do something with Bryan and Kara and their kids.  We'd had a lot of fun doing stuff with our parents in Utah, but it was a nice change of pace to be hanging out with people our own age.

The train ride was really fun for all of us.  The kids LOVED it.  Their favorite part was when we drove through a long tunnel.

After we were done with the train we rode the carousel. When we first walked into the park one of the girls saw the carousel and said, "I want to go on that!"  Lydia waved to people and threw her head back and laughed the whole time we were riding.  She was so happy.

The carousel, like the train, cost 2 tickets for each person over 3 years old.  We were able to buy 12 tickets for $10 so you do the math.

We could have also paid two tickets to go inside a real train that is on display, but I didn't think it would be that cool for our kids. So we skipped that for this trip.  (You can count on me to go back one day.)

We did go into a building and to look at the model trains.  I was blown away by those trains.  Brandon and I have paid $5 a person for us to go to model train shows that were not as high quality as what we saw for free in this building.

Derrick loved looking at the trains.  Everything was low enough that he could see the trains and displays without needing to be lifted up.  He laughed every time a train went by.

There were such cute little models of everything imaginable.  Lydia really liked the circus one.  She pointed to the Ferris Wheel and said, "We still need to ride on that."  She and Charlotte have wanted to ride a Ferris Wheel ever since they saw one in the live action Charlotte's Web movie.  I told her we would ride one as soon as we found one that was a good price.

There were three displays for the trains of different gauges.  I only looked at the first one.  I would have loved to look at all three, but my head was kind of spinning.  Charlotte wanted to play in this little trolley car so I sat with her while she played.  She pretended to help people on and off the trolley and then pretended to drive it.  It was so cute.

After everyone else was done looking at the model trains we went to a large grassy area.  On our way we saw the train go by.  Charlotte waved at everyone as it passed.

Bryan and Kara had brought a soccer ball and everyone kicked it around for a little bit.  Then everyone except Veronica, Derrick, and me went to play on the play ground.  Derrick played with the ball and pulled up handfuls of grass.

When he got bored of that I handed him over the fence to Brandon so he could play on the amazing playground.

Veronica and I hung out.  I nursed her a little bit, but mostly I just rested.  I couldn't believe that I was still tired.

A bird walked right over to our blanket.  I tried to figure out what kind of bird it was.  Every since I watched and read The Big Year I've turned into a passive birder.  Brandon even bought me a bird identification guide book for Christmas this year.  I never did find out for certain what kind of bird this was so if anyone knows please let me know.

Everyone came back from the play ground and then we went to the car.  On the way there I took this picture of our shadows.

The kids all fell asleep on the way home and they stayed asleep when we brought them into the house.  We all took naps.  I felt better when I woke up, but I was still a little tired.  Veronica started crying a lot too.  She cried on and off the rest of the afternoon and evening.  It was so out of character for her and very frustrating for me.  I think she was pretty tired of being on vacation too.