train museum

Dearest Kekoa,
We returned home today from our "special trip", just the two of us. I took you up to the train museum in Sacramento and we spent the night in Davis with the awesome Wittkop family. It was our first time away from baba. Even though we both missed him and wished he could have been with us, it really was a very special trip, a special time to just spend with you. Baba and I had both been pumping up the special trip and that you were going to get to see Ava, Kyle, and Cole again, so you were super excited. I am cherishing all this time that we have together, with just you, before your baby sister comes.
With baba's help, we were able to get out of the house yesterday by 8:50 a.m., a record. You were so excited because we were going to get to ride a real Amtrack train to the museum. We drove to Davis to catch the train. You were such a trooper in the car, reading and playing with your toys. Just toward the end you started telling me you wanted to get off the freeway, the signal that you don't want to be in the car anymore.
The train was leaving at 11:47 a.m. and we made it with plenty of time to spare. We actually got to the train station about an hour early. It was a gorgeous spring day, just perfectly warm. You were adorable in the station, waiting so patiently as we picked up our tickets, oohing aaahing over all the train pictures, and accompanying mama the bathroom....of course! We wandered around downtown Davis to pass the time, bought a banana muffin, and went back to the station to sit outside and wait for our train to arrive. You were so patient and full of questions, "what that sign mama?" (It was a no smoking sign), "why no smoking mama?", and on and on.
Mama had to use the bathroom one last time before the train arrived. As were leaving the bathroom, the train pulled into the station. We were running to catch the train, you tripped and fell, and mama accidentally smooshed your hand with my shoe. I still feel SO bad about it. Your tears started to flow and I was so sad that you had to get on the train crying. You had been so excited. You quickly stopped crying, once we got on the train, and you got to hand the conductor our tickets. You did snuggle in my lap though for the train ride to Sacramento, looking out the window, asking a lot of questions, and pointing out all the things you were seeing.
It was a short train ride, about 20 minutes, and we arrived in Sacramento. It is pretty awesome because the train drops you off right at Old Town Sacramento, about a 5 minute walk to the train museum. I had been worried that I was going to need the stroller, but definitely didn't need it. You are such a trooper, did so awesome the entire day, even though we did a lot of walking around.
We were both in complete awe in the train museum. I hadn't been there for years so didn't remember how completely awesome that first exhibit is, when you walk in the room and that huge steam train is set up and looks like it is going to go into the tunnel. You couldn't get over it. You kept saying "look at that", with every turn we made. It was complete train heaven for you. Your favorite was the huge black diesel train. You got to sit in the engineer seat and "drive" the train, very exciting. You also loved any of the trains that we could walk through, there was a mail car, a diner car, and another sleeper car that felt like it was moving. You called it the "funny train".
We took a little lunch break outside, sat under the shade of some trees at the picnic tables, with views of more trains. As I sat there with you, handing you your ham and hummus sandwich, it hit me what a big boy you really are becoming. I was sitting eating my turkey sandwich while you ate your entire sandwich too! It was a super cute moment, unable to capture on any sort of camera.
After lunch, we headed back in to the museum, upstairs to where the train tables were. You were super excited to play tracks for a while and I was happy to sit and rest. The upstairs also had all the model train sets, so many trains...it really was heaven for you. You would run up to each glass case and get super excited about all the trains inside. You made me smile all day long.
I can't believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing son like you. You didn't fuss once, not the entire time that we were at the museum. You did such a good job, listening, following directions, and being ok with moving onto another exhibit. Even when it was time to leave the train tables, you were fine.
Our train back to Davis was leaving at 3:35 pm. We walked around Old Town for a little bit, saw some horse and buggies, ate some mini donuts, before walking back to the train station. We were early again, but we both needed to rest and sit down. You were perfectly content sitting on the bench and checking out the Amtrack train that was pulled into the station. You kept asking me, "Why no doors open?" Finally, the doors did open and it happened to be our train. Again, you were so patient. We boarded the train but had to wait about another 10 minutes before it left the station. You were just so excited to be on the real train again. It was another short trip back to Davis, you were sad to leave the train as you waved good-bye when we stepped off and started walking to the car. You were doing amazing considering you didn't have a nap.
I thought maybe you would doze off as we drove to Auntie Cindy and Uncle Dan's house, but that was really wishful thinking since it was only about a 5 minute drive!
We got to their house and you were so excited to see Ava, Kyle and Cole. They play really well with you. We all decided to go to Farmer's Market in downtown Davis. I wasn't sure how you would hold up, considering we had already such a long day, but you did fantastic. You played so hard at the park with the big boys, going down the slide, crawling through the tunnels, climbing up the stairs. I couldn't believe how much energy you have. We ate dinner at the farmer's market. You had a hot dog, just like Kyle and some of mama's ice cream. You went crazy for the ice cream, it was very delicious from a local creamery. The two flavor combination was roasted sweet potato with marshmallow and goat cheese with fig swirl...I know, sounds like crazy flavors but both of them were so delicious and hit the spot.
Auntie Cindy kept commenting on how awesome you are on the car ride back to their house, how you weren't throwing tantrums or anything. I know you were trying extra hard to be on your best behavior and you really were just being so good. You didn't want to get in your pj's and ran around as a nakie baby before I could catch you. After I got you into bed, you passed out pretty quickly.
The next morning, you woke up and wanted to make sure you got to say good-bye to the big kids. You were so cute, hanging out in their room, oohing and aahing over all the stuffed animals. I was super impressed because you sat on the bathroom floor, after everyone had left, reading books so I could take a shower!
What a wonderful memory to have. Tonight as I was putting you to sleep, you couldn't stop talking about the train museum, you were still super excited about it. We will definitely have to go back, only bring baba with us and probably baby sister too! :)
I love you so much Kekoa Kai. Thank you for being such a wonderful little traveler. You made the trip so much fun.
love you,
mama