A Train Ride for Garrison

This year as part of Garrison's birthday, we decided to take him on a special train ride through Atlanta, just the 3 of us. He is in love with trains and since he racked up on toys at Christmas, we gave him a few small things for his birthday but planned a fun "train trip" as his big gift.

My parents came over yesterday to keep Austin while the 3 of us headed over to the closest Marta station to our house for a day of train riding, lunch at The Varsity, more train riding, and an afternoon treat of ice cream. The little man enjoyed every minute, it was fun, quality one-on-one time with our first born, and it didn't break the budget. Perfect.

He was so excited when we arrived at the "station" and couldn't wait to ride the train. He took everything in and starting talking and asking questions as soon as we sat down.

When we going to go? Is the train takin us to eat lunch? Is some more people comin? I'm ready to go. WE ARE GOING! (He has 2 volumes: loud and louder... and everyone on board knew it.) We are goin fast! I can see some trees. Why it dark? We are goin in a tunnel? Why dey have lights on da tunnel? I see anutter train! Are we goin to ride dat train? We are up high! I like dis train. When it time for us to ride anutter train?

I wouldn't say he talked non-stop the whole time. There were times he was quietly gazing out the window really checking things out, enjoying the view, and soaking up this brand new experience... but he did talk a lot. Hopefully he didn't annoy the other passengers too much. Most of them had in i-pods I think, so they were spared the play by play of everything my baby saw out the window.

When we reached our stop to get off and change trains, we grabbed the little man, went down some stairs, and jumped on the North/South just before the doors closed. It was perfect timing and pure excitement for Garrison. He loved changing trains and experiencing the busy station... just like in his library book about a passenger train that makes stops at a busy station and travels through tunnels and on bridges.

After we arrived at our next stop and got off the train, we chose the wrong exit and were almost trapped inside the station. Haha. Thanks to a nice family, we were able to use their card to get out the exit closest to The Varsity.

The Varsity was delicious and packed out. We were thankful we found a seat! That place is hoppin! Garrison ate every bite of his grilled cheese and wore his hat proudly.

After lunch it was back to the "station" to get on a train, ride awhile, get off and onto another train, and ride back to our car. This time around, the little man was a pro. He knew what to do, what to expect, where he wanted to sit, and what he wanted to look for out the window. And this is what he looked like almost the whole way back...

Then, once we got off the train he declared we couldn't leave until the train did. Sooo, we hung around and waited... and waited a little longer, until the train left and we said our official goodbye.

Then we got a couple more pictures before getting in the car and making one final stop for ice cream.

The day was a lot of fun, (for Garrison and us!), and something we're looking forward to doing every year, with each of our babies. It won't always be a train ride, but something special for us to do one-on-one with all our kiddos around their birthday. And... it will give the grandparents some one-on-one and two-on-two time as well. =)

He finally fell asleep about 20 minutes from arriving home. Then he got to have some time with Granna and Papa and AnAn last night. Boy was he excited! He even thanked God for a fun traide ride and that Granna and Papa stayed with Austin, last night before we ate supper. Melt my heart. He was worn out big time today. He took an almost 3 hour nap this afternoon. Yep, definitely a successful train trip and fun weekend. Thanks so much to Granna and Papa for hanging out with baby boy all day!