Trains, Trains, and More Trains

Brent has been talking about taking Owen to the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer for quite a while now.  For the last couple of years, we have gone to Tweetsie each year, but never made it up there this year. Brent decided to take today off and head down to Spencer with Owen. 

Instead of driving down, Brent thought Owen would enjoy going on a real train, so they took the Amtrak from High Point down to Salisbury.  The train left at 8:30, so Gray and I dropped them off and they got on the train.  It sounds simple enough, but it actually took a little more planning than meets the eye. 

The Transportation Museum was about 2 1/2 miles from the Depot, so they had to catch a bus over to the museum.  Brent checked the bus schedules the day before they left to make sure he knew which bus took them there and what time it left the Depot.  Fortunately, there was a bus that left near the Depot about 10 minutes after the train arrived, so it was quick, easy, and cheap ($1) to get to the museum. 

They walked all around and saw all of the exhibits.  Owen was fascinated by the old cars, wagons, and tractors on display inside the buildings.  Brent said Owen loved going to the Roundhouse and seeing all of the old steam engines and they were able to get inside some of the train cars.  They took a ride on the train they had at the museum, but Brent said it paled in comparison to the train ride down to Salisbury. 

After they got finished with the train ride, it was lunchtime, so here's where you had to have the logistics planned out again.  The train to come back home left the Depot shortly before 1 pm and the bus didn't come back to the museum until 12:30, which wouldn't leave them time to grab some lunch at the Chick-fil-A near the Depot. 

Luckily Brent had looked at this before they left, so he looked up the name of a taxi service and they took a cab from the museum back to the Depot.  They grabbed some lunch at Chick-fil-A and then walked a couple of blocks back to the Depot and got on the train to come back home.  Gray and I met them in High Point and Owen was so excited to tell me all about what fun they had. 

 

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a souvenir from the gift shop.  Gray thought it was so funny!  Owen was telling Gray all about the train he got!  So, needless-to-say, the day was definitely about trains, trains, and more trains!! 

Meanwhile at home, since it was such a cold day, I figured what better way to spend the morning but to make a homemade vegetable soup!  I got it ready and had some for lunch before Gray and I went to pick up Brent and Gray!  I love soup this time of year!

 

Halloween

Owen was so excited about Halloween this year.  He picked out his costume very early and we went ahead and got it for him to make sure it wouldn't get sold out.  He wanted to be Raphael (one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for those of you who don't have boys or brothers)!  We figured Gray could be what Owen was at the age, which was a Monkey, but the weather was so warm, we had to get him a different costume so he wouldn't have a heat stroke (Ha!).  We bought him some striped overalls and drug Owen's conductor's hat out of the closet and he was the cutest train conductor you've ever seen!  For the last two years, Owen was a train conductor and it reminded us so much of him. 

Owen - Halloween 2011

Gray - Halloween 2013

The boys' preschool had trunk or treat on Halloween and then we had planned to go in our neighborhood that night.  Brent had taken Thursday and Friday off so that we could all enjoy the festivities at preschool and at home.  Around 4:30 on Halloween morning, Owen came in our room and said he didn't feel well.  I took his temperature and it was almost 103. He still had the fever when we woke up later and we were quickly assuming he had gotten strep throat from Gray, who had it earlier.  We were so heartbroken since Owen was so excited about dressing up and getting candy. 

It worked out well that Brent was off, so he took Owen to the doctor while I helped out at the preschool.  Owen slept a lot of the afternoon and his fever came down a little.  He said he felt like going to a few houses, so we let him dress up and go to a few houses in our neighborhood. I typically would not let him go out of the house this sick, but unfortunately you can't make up Halloween.  We went to a few homes and came back home. You could tell he didn't feel well by the time we got home, bless his heart!!! 

We were so glad he got to enjoy a little bit of fun that day!  He told us at the end of the day that he had a good Halloween.  He was such a big boy and didn't complain at all about not feeling well!  He got a lot of rest the next day and was back to himself by the weekend!

 

It's Pumpkin Time

I always look forward to getting pumpkins, planting my fall flowers, and getting out the fall wreath for our front door! What better way to get ready and excited about Halloween and fall, right?  There is a church in Kernersville that has a huge pumpkin patch each year that we enjoy going to and letting the kids pick out some pumpkins. 

This year was no different.  After church one Sunday, we had lunch and then headed over to the pacth and picked out some pumpkins.  When we got home, Brent and Owen had a lot of fun carving them and getting them ready for Halloween!  We got some candles to put in them and lit them a couple of nights before Halloween.  Owen enjoyed walking on the sidewalk in front of house and seeing them lit.

Owen had so much fun helping Brent with the pumpkins.  I think Brent did too!

What a nice addition to our front porch!

Lorillard Family Fun Day

For the last couple of years, Papa has invited us to join he and Mimi at the annual celebration Lorillard throws for their employees.  They have it at the Grasshopper's stadium in Greensboro and the weather this year was great (the weather hasn't been too great the last year or two)! 

Brent and Owen got there early and met up with Mimi and Papa when the gates opened.  Gray was napping, so I caught up with them a little later on.  It was so much fun!  They had so many activities down on the field and Owen had a ball. 

There was face painting, sand art, bounce houses, corn hole, and so many more things we didn't even have time to do.  They had bingo for the adults and gave away very nice prizes, unfortunately, Mimi wasn't too lucky that day! 

The food was awesome and they ended the night with a nice fireworks show.  Gray and I left a little early with Mimi and Papa and Brent and Owen stayed for the fireworks. 

Owen loved the fireworks and Brent recorded a short clip of them and Owen likes to cut off all the lights in the room and have us watch them!  Too cute! 

FOL Fall Festival

Each year, Owen and Gray's preschool has a spring carnival to end the year.  This year, they decided to move it to the fall and have a festival to kick off the new year.  This year I was asked to join the Board at the preschool, so needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time helping out with events at the school. 

We put a lot of time and planning into the Fall Festival and I think it was a huge success!  The kids had a great time.  I had to help serve BBQ and the fixings so Brent brought the boys and after they got through eating, I was able to join them for all of the fun! 

Owen had so much fun at the bounce house and the other cool games they had for the kids!  He also loved the cotton candy, he has such a sweet tooth! 

Gray enjoyed walking around and tried to do a few games.  Such a great way to kick off the new school year!

Boone Daycation

We love to go to the mountains during the fall and enjoy the leaves and the cooler weather.  This year, we decided to take another daycation to Boone.  The leaves had not started turning much, but we needed a change of scenery!  The Dixie Classic Fair was in town when we decided to go and really didn't feel like getting into all of that, so we knew Wilkesboro was having a fall festival that Saturday.  So, we decided to stop there on the way up to Boone and that would be our "trip to the fair". 

We had never been to it before, so we didn't know what to expect.  It was cool!  They had horse and pony rides for the kids and a Camel to pet.  Owen said he wanted to ride the horse, but I figured he would be too scared to get on it, so I told him he should ride the pony instead.  He told us he wanted to ride the horse, so we let him.  He got up there like a big boy and loved it!  He wasn't scared at all and had so much fun. 

They had different games for the kids and we ended up staying a couple of hours.  We figured it was time to get back on the road so we could be in Boone around lunchtime. 

We walked around campus and had a picnic there and it was nice because it was the weekend and the campus wasn't crowded.  Last year when we went, it was during the week and two adults, two kids, and a stroller didn't blend in too well with the students!  We felt so old! 

What's a trip to Boone without going to the Mast General Store!

It was about Gray's naptime, so Brent dropped me off at the outlet mall and he and the boys took a drive on the parkway.  They both fell asleep and Brent drove all the way to Grandfather Mountain and then came back to Blowing Rock and picked me up. 

We headed to the park they have in Blowing Rock and the boys were able to run and play.  We love BBQ, so we ended the day with dinner at Woodland's.  It was great!  We headed back home after dinner and were exhausted when we pulled in the driveway!  Such a great way to spend the day with my family!