Recent Adventures

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed out to Cumberland, MD for a train ride on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. My mom bought us tickets as an early Christmas present, and Noelle and Jonah were excited about being able to ride on a train!

It was about a 2.5 hour drive out to the railroad, but the kids did really well, and were excited when we got parked and walked into the railroad station. There were Christmas decorations, and that combined with the historic waiting area, made everything seem kind of magical. We got there just in time to grab our tickets and board the train. We packed our lunch and ate our PB sandwiches while we watched the scenery change from city to country.

It was about an hour ride out, and on the way, Santa came through and brought candy canes for all the kids. When the train stopped, passengers were able to disembark and walk around for a bit. We took some pictures in front of the train and wandered around to get some energy out before getting back on and buying a snack from the snack bar.

On the ride back, Noelle and Jonah got a bit antsy, but we walked down the line of train cars and explored for a bit. And even though they were a bit cranky on the way back, as soon as we got in the car to drive home, Noelle asked when we could go on a train again.

December started off with a weekend full of birthday parties (3!), as well as a trip to a local farm for our Christmas tree! We went with our friends Megan and Joe, who had also come with us when we went to a tree farm three years ago- basically it's a sometimes tradition (ha!). Noelle and Jonah ran from tree to tree asking if that one was going to be our tree, but we finally all settled on one and Luke cut it down. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it was just cold enough to feel like the Christmas season without feeling like we were freezing.

This past weekend, we did pizza with Santa at a local fire station. The kids were free, and we were able to take free pictures with Santa- win/win! My sister met us there with my nephew, and we had all three littles in their matching Christmas pajamas for the pictures. Jonah, of course, managed to hurt himself moments before it was our turn to visit Santa, and so he was quite unhappy and wanted nothing to do with Santa. But we made it work and got some pictures for posterity's sake!