Too-Too!

Bean has her first airplane flight coming up (and it's a long one!) so S thought it might be a fun idea to take her on Frontrunner to see how she did on long trips. A week ago Friday (when the weather was actually warm and gorgeous) we hopped on a train up to Ogden.

Bean is currently obsessed with "too-too tains" so she was pretty intrigued when we actually walked up and boarded one (much more so than she was when we put her on a tractor a few weeks ago.) We had to wait a few minutes for the train to head out but as it started to move, Bean was, like, "Whoa..."



The trip only takes about 45 minutes and she was an angel the whole way. She didn't sit still, either. She wanted to sit on the seat across from me, then sit on my lap, then sit on the seat across from me, and so on. Then she figured out she could step on this little ledge by the window and look outside. I'm wishing right now that they had more space around airplane seats.

Once we got up to Ogden, we headed over to the old Union Station and had lunch. Bean was pretty hungry and we were impressed that she ate so much. And every half hour or so another train would either come or leave and you could hear all of the kids in the restaurant (including Bean) exclaim train!!

We finished eating and decided to go over to the train museum, also inside Union Station. I went there several times when I was a kid and remember loving that place. The have all sorts of historical memorabilia from the Golden Spike era...

...including the actual Golden Spike! (At least, that was the claim.)



Towards the end they have an enormous model train layout that spans 4 or 5 rooms and it depicts the actual transcontinental railway. However, the train wasn't running that day. I was sort of bummed. Have I ever mentioned I was also pretty into trains when I was a kid and had my own model train layout in the basement? I suppose at some point adolescence happened and clothes, makeup and Seventeen magazine became much more important. But I do still have all of my train things. Maybe one of these days Bean and I will set it all up again...

Anyway.

As we were making our way back to get onto Frontrunner, we passed by a bunch of old train cars and a locomotive that they let you climb on. That is when I got this priceless picture of li'l Bean.



It was a fun excursion. Bean ended up doing not as well on the ride back to Salt Lake, but it was her naptime so I wasn't that surprised. Once we made it back to the car, she fell asleep. (So did I!)

An evening at the park.

There is a great park just down the road from our house. S, Bean and I have made it sort of a nightly ritual to go down there after dinner to feed the ducks and geese. We also took the opportunity to teach Bean how to go down a slide. These pictures are from her second trip there this season when she was still a little tentative. You should see her now! She is a slide pro!

On Being a Mother...

Well I guess by this being my second Mother's Day I could be considered a veteran! And despite Bean being a little under the weather at the moment, I feel like my ventures with her have been mostly successful these past almost-21 months.

It has been fun as she is getting older to see what traits of mine and S's she has adopted. I tend to be a "cheese" at times. Here is Bean's "Cheese" while, appropriately, eating mac 'n cheese.



I love my routines. Anything that makes me stray gives me heartburn. Guess what? Bean is a highly routine toddler. Every day after Elmo is over she points to the door because she knows it's time to go get the mail.

I like comfort but on my own terms. Bean will only be cuddly with us if she's in the mood and it has to be her idea.

She's adopted my love of reading, crafting, and I believe she's showing early signs of my OCD organizational habits. She doesn't sing along with me in the car...yet, but she does wave her hands in the air {like she just don't care} !

I look at other's having their first (or second...or third [!] children) and I think back to the last few years and what a journey it has been. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to travel down that road again just yet. Just thinking of those first few sleepless weeks makes me unbearably tired! But I am grateful for the opportunity I've had to be a mother.

I guess I should thank Bean for giving me that opportunity. Later when she's old enough I can thank her for her patience, too.

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

I had to work Easter Sunday this year. Again. So we made Easter a weeklong event in our house.

Tuesday night was our Easter egg hunt. After dinner I had S take Bean upstairs for a bit while I hid her plastic eggs. When she came downstairs, all I had to do was hand her the Easter basket and she knew exactly what to do. The hunt was over in about 5 minutes.

I almost deleted most of these pictures but the blurry is true to life because that kid is always on the go!













Then it was time for Bean to open her eggs. Sorry, no candy this year kiddo. What she doesn't know she won't miss, right?





Instead I hid her farm animals and little people inside the eggs. I think she thought it was pretty great. When I realized the rooster was missing, I realized that we had an egg missing. Luckily we found it. *phew*



Actually, S and I had to both work on Sunday so I "hid" Easter baskets Saturday morning. Lucky Bean got a new bunny rabbit and a book. (By the way: after much persistence, she now scrunches her nose up like a rabbit whenever we ask What does the Bunny Rabbit say? Adorable...) She also got a small chocolate bunny which I don't think she has had yet.

Sunday morning I got her ready in her easter dress (proud mommy moment!) After nursery it was off to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s where she was able to finally indulge in lots of candy. What are grandparents for?!



Don't feel bad for me. We had Easter dinner at work. Ham. Funeral potatoes. Deviled eggs. It was delicious. There was also a carrot cake with chocolate bunnies.



I walked into the breakroom where a chorus of Little Bunny Foo-Foo had just broken out...