2. The Day Avery Watched 5 hours of Avery Shows
3. Watch 5 Hours of Videos All For an Adventure (as offered by Cathryn)
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| All Aboard! |
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| Avery and Grandma Carole on the train. |
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| The kids were actually pretty excited to be there. |
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| Looking out the window. |
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| Can you spot the lady with her hands full? |
We went and had ourselves a little adventure. My friend Cheney had recently taken her family including her newborn on the train and loved it. Well, if she can take a newborn 2 hours in the car, 2 hours on a train and 2 hours home, then I could certainly do it with a 3.5 year old and an 11 month old, right?
This seemed liked a great idea in theory because my mom absolutely loves trains, I've been wanting to spend more time in the mountains and for some sadistic reason, I was curious to see how the kids would do being out of the house for the entire day. I'm a fairly schedule oriented person if you didn't know and it makes me a little nervous to stray too far from normal.
You're wondering how it went, aren't you? Dying of curiosity to know if this was a complete bust? I am happy to report that the day could not have gone better, despite the fact that we hit rush hour traffic in both Colorado Springs and the Denver Tech Center resulting in a 3 hour trip home rather than 2.
Vivienne slept almost the entire way there and our scheduled stop in Colorado Springs, about half way there, was unnecessary. Avery was too engrossed in the limitless videos I allowed him to watch in the car. If you're unaware, Avery has a tendency to toss his cookies on long car rides, especially those into the mountains. He only complained once on the way home that his tummy hurt but luckily we had some medicinal veggie straws to aid him.
We arrived in Canon City with time to spare, got our tickets and boarded early. Avery was super excited and Vivi was content to eat her lunch and rifle through my purse. The Gorge was beautiful and the Arkansas River running adjacent to it was raging. There were lots of beautiful rock formations and old gold mining sites. After about half way, Avery lost interest in the natural beauty but was luckily entertained with the cars I had brought him. I've traveled enough with kids to know what to expect and what kind of provisions to bring.
Vivi did great as well. No whining, no crying, just happy to play and look out the window. Her mood has been much better lately and I'm thinking her teeth aren't bothering her as much.
So, I wasn't too worried about the ride there or the train, it was the ride home at the end of a long day that I was concerned about. However, Avery got interested in his videos, Viv slept for an hour and then was entertained with toys and completely destroying her car seat with milk and snacks. It immediately went into the wash upon arrival. She started to lose it a little when we were about 20 minutes from home, but not too bad.
I was thrilled when we got home, exhausted, but thrilled that the day went off without a hitch. I do think 2 hours is our max car travel time for any one trip, but it's good to get out of one's comfort zone every now and then, especially if it means letting Grandma ride on the train with the grandkids.
***I forgot that I forgot. So, halfway there, I realized that I had forgotten my camera and was devastated. I had even made a mental note in the shower that morning saying, "Don't forget your camera," but then I laughed at myself, and thought that I never forget my camera. Luckily, my mom brought hers so we were able to capture a few great shots. Then, when I wrote the blog I forgot to mention the forgotten camera. I really am getting forgetful even concerning the critical appendage known as my camera.
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