On Friday, we went to the Health Museum. That was a bust. In between, the indoctrination/brainwashing on evolution (yes, we're creationist) as a fact, we then tortured Zoe by making her walk through the human body. Well, not the real human body. It was a neat part of the museum that had different rooms for each system. Very cool, actually. Zoe didn't think so, and showed us that by screaming at the top of her lungs as we drug her (yes, kicking and screaming no less) through each room. I'm no psychic, but I just don't see medical doctor or nurse in her near future. She finally lightened up when we got to the brain and saw some optical illusions. But then lost it when Mark and I guessed how old we were going to be when we'd die...and also did a photograph age progression (me at 60, not very pretty). We had to miss the 4D movie (much to Zoe's relief) about the human body because of school groups and the museum's lack of planning. No big deal (as I said, Zoe was relieved), and Zoe and I headed to a bridal luncheon which was yum yum. While we were chatting with people we had never met (a big part of our trip as this was to celebrate a friend from high school from fourteen years ago), she mentioned what a great park there was right near the Health Museum. She casually mentioned they even had a train there. My ears perked up. A train, Josiah is our choo-choo man. I think, if he could communicate clearly, he would request a life size train for the back yard. So, having totally messed up Friday (oh, Mark had a migraine which put him out the rest of the day too...but that wasn't a mess up...the museum was), we decided to try out the park on Saturday before the afternoon wedding.
We got there at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. I'm saying this to show how great it all worked out. The train "depot" was not open yet, so we walked a few feet away to look at the fountain and see what was going on. A kind couple shared their bread with the kids, and they were able to "feed the birds, feed the birds." But they didn't have to pay a tuppence (ten points if you can name that movie). Don't they look cool in this picture. My request was for them to turn, face the fountain, and then twist around to look at me. See how well that went over??
Tons of pigeons, ravens (we think), swallowtail (we think) and other birds we didn't know. They would fly up in front of us, circle, and land again near us to eat whatever we had. Pretty neat. And nobody got pooped on, which I'm pretty sure is a record.
Zoe and Liam doing a bird dance trying to get the birds to fly off.
Liam continuing his bird dance.
Finally, about fifteen till, we headed back to get the tickets. There were already a few people in line, so we were grateful to get there. Tickets in hand we loaded up and Josiah pouted a little. I quickly surmised that he was bummed he couldn't actually drive the train. He was pretty content to watch the engine when he could see it 'round the bend.
Did I mention that we had a lovely, amazing and wonderful helper with us? Grandmere graciously agreed to travel eleven hours (plus) with us. Having the extra set of eyes and hands made it much more relaxing.
My sweet girl rode with me.
The kids loved the train ride (and that's putting it mildly). They especially loved waving at everyone.
We enjoyed the scenery. Truly beautiful. Right in the middle of a large city too.
I think Mark took this picture because it looks like the building blends in with the sky. The picture doesn't do it justice but when you're there the tint on the windows helps it to be camoflaged.
Our two train engineers had to check out the engine after the ride. They were mighty impressed too.
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