A short sampling...

Since everyone else will be getting up soon, and it would take me forever to load all of the pictures I took yesterday, I picked a few to share for the anxious Grandparents who I know would like to see some of the pictures from Ava's train ride.  Let me just say these antique trains are bigger, louder, and much more ominous than could ever be portrayed on TV or in movies.  It was such a different experience and I'm glad we did it.  At first when the whistle would blow (imagine a super powered screaming banshee vs. your average choo choo sound) Ava would jump and her eyes would grow wide.  After about the second time her shocked expression turned into a huge smile.

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Since it took almost an hour to load these few pictures and everyone is up I will make this quick.
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Waiting for the train to leave the station

The billowing smoke was unreal...at times it even rained soot down on us and speckled Ava's blond hair with little black dots.

 

 The beautiful views

 Looking at the smoke

 Pulling us

 Then pushing us

 Leaving a long train of black smoke

 Stopped at whittaker station for lunch our century plus old train waits for us to reboard

 Insisting she does it by herself

 The whistle blew again and she got excited to go back down the mountain

 The suns rays exposed threw the smoke

 We sat back and enjoyed our trip back to Cass station

As we were pulling back in the station Ava announced that she needed ice cream.  She requested to have green again.  It's funny she remembered exactly where we had gotten ice cream and wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for more.  I got in line and got the ice cream while Aaron took her over to the gift shop to pick out a little train to remember her trip by.  She picked a shinny red one and spent much of the evening running it along the coffee table saying choo choo.  I'm so glad we got to give her such a fun experience.