Train Fest 2011

As I'm sure you all know, Nicholas loves trains (and, really, anything having to do with transportation), so when his grandparents suggested a whole weekend full of train-centered activities, we agreed eagerly. (Okay, accepted their offer after debating whether to deprive Nicholas of activities he would love based on our own laziness and desire to sit around their house all weekend.)

We began the weekend with a trip to the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx to see their famous Train Spectacular. [ed. Joe, I know it is killing you that I didn't look up the real name and link to it, so go ahead and add it.] Nicholas loved looking at the trains everywhere, but all the intricate buildings made out of plants completely escaped his attention. But he certainly would have been happy to stare at those trains for hours if we had let him.

UPDATE (JOE), 12/14, 7:00 p.m.: I believe you're referring to the Holiday Train Show.

Here are a few pictures, with more of course in the Gallery:

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

Then on Sunday Nicholas got to ride a real train! We took the commuter train into New York City, which from Joe's parents' house is about a 45-minute train ride, mostly along the Hudson River. (By the way, when Nicholas was pretending to fly a plane earlier today, he told me it was going to New York City.)

Nicholas was so excited to be at the train station, even though it was freezing cold!

From 2011 December

And the ride itself did not disappoint:

From 2011 December

Nicholas' first midtown experience was brief and to the point. We walked from Grand Central Station to Rockefeller Center, walked all around the Christmas tree, walked back towards the station, going through the MetLife building to see their tree on the way.

But Nicholas was really interested in the very big tree (and amazed at the very tall buildings), and kept wanting to get closer and closer. It was quite cold, though, and so after that he was done and when we gave him the option, chose to go back to the train and back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Here are some pictures of the various trees:

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

From 2011 December

And, of course, Nicholas and I talking about how big the tree was:

From 2011 December

And, because this was the running theme of the weekend, it happened that we had 15 minutes to kill in Grand Central before our train and so we went into the train museum and Nicholas got to watch yet another set of model trains.

From 2011 December

And then the train ride home, the perfect conclusion to Train Fest:

From 2011 December