Few things makes James as excited as trains and train tracks. I don't know exactly what got him so crazy for trains, but I suspect it may have been when he was little. I'd drive him back home over a quiet siding from his day care. He'd get excited as we came to the crossing, or sad if we went some other way home. Soon he was spotting railroad crossings left and right. His eye for spotting railroad tracks has become pretty sharp.
Can you see the railroad tracks ahead down the road?
James can. They're up there.
Though he seems to be able to pick out tracks in the distance on any road, this is in fact one of James's favorite streets in town. Here's why:
Eight tracks! Bumpity bump bump bump.
Yesterday we went to one of James's favorite destinations in town, Choo Choo Bob's. Choo Choo Bob's is a train store that has some modeling supplies, but primarily caters to children. There are kid-friendly model trains, lots of wooden train sets, and much more. One of the great things about Choo Choo Bob's, in my opinion, is that they created their own children's television show. There aren't very many locally produced children's shows any more and these guys have really put together a pretty decent show. Check it out.
I told James that we were going to go to Choo Choo Bob's today and he immediately said, "we have to go straight a long time then turn and then we're at Choo Choo Bob's!" I guess he knows the way. So we went straight a long time and then turned to get to the store. The store is fun because it has a few model layouts with trains running around. He has a good time watching them go in and out of the tunnels and all over the place. But what he enjoys the most are the eight tables in the back of the store with wooden train set layouts. He could stay there for hours playing and planning and doing and playing some more.
This is a picture that my dad took a few weeks ago. That is Toby the square engine on the front of his train, if you didn't know. I am learning. Not much choice... though to be honest, the Thomas the Tank Engine stories aren't that bad, especially the original ones from the 40s through the 60s. More on that later, though.
It was on my calendar, but I forgot that it was story time at Choo Choo Bob's and the place was crazy town. Spot the James:
We stayed for a little while, but it was just too busy. He would have liked to stay longer, but is getting much better about changes in plans and having to leave when he is having fun (mostly). Not all train fun was done for the day, though. We had the tracks on Cleveland Avenue to go over on the way to a farmers' market. We also have quite a few pieces of wooden train tracks for him back at home. James is pretty good about putting together his own layouts. He'll sometimes need some assistance, so we put together different layouts together and play trains. Choo choo! Ding ding ding ding ding. A holy smokestacks is coming! (just work with me here).
We've got pieces of track from a number of different sets and brands and fortunately for us, they're all pretty compatible. But sometimes there are problems. Here are pictures of two different tracks we've set up. One of them is a good track and one of them isn't. It doesn't have anything to do with how cool they look, it is more fundamental. Can you spot which layout has a problem and what the problem is?
1.
2.
The answer is to come next time.
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On an unrelated note, it was my birthday a couple days ago and I was very surprised to see that my dad sent us a new digital camera for my birthday/our Christmas. While camera phones are pretty convenient, I'm often not very satisfied with how the pictures turn out. This will be nice to start taking better pictures (not photographs, I am not good enough with a camera to take photographs. I'm usually satisfied with pictures).
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