Thursday, January 9, 2014

The last two days of break

We decided to take our Christmas money and buy some stuff to spruce up the master bathroom.  It is one of two rooms in our house that remains unpainted (the other is the laundry room) and it's just kind of boring.  We're going to make slow changes in there this year, so I'll keep you up to date as stuff is finished. 
 
I bought some pretty curtains from Anna's Linens but we needed to buy curtain rods to hang them on. I wish I had learned years ago that Ross is the best place to buy curtain rods.  They are so cheap!
 
We made a quick trip to Ross on Sunday morning and then we took the kids to the park.
 
Spencer brought his bike.



Monday was the very last day of vacation for both Spencer and me.  We wanted to do something fun.  Our original plan was to go to the dinosaur museum in Mesa, but it is conveniently closed on Mondays, so we went to the train park in Scottsdale instead.

This park has, on display, the train that was train force one for four presidents.  The Roald Amundsen Pullman Car is one of six cars built by the Pullman Company in 1928. It was constructed at a cost of $205,000 and used by Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. 
 
I got that description from wikipedia.  I made up the train force one part.
 
The dining room
 
Teeny tiny sink
 
Private room
 
Bunk beds
 
The long, sunny hallway
There was a big open room at the end of the car with a Christmas tree.  They were taking down all of their Christmas decorations that day.

We went on the carousel once.  I have high hopes for Elliott enjoying rides because he was all about the carousel.

 
We went on the little train twice.
Monday just happened to be the 6th and Spencer just happened to be turning 6 years- 4 months, so we did a little photo shoot at the park.



 
The official 6 year-4 month shot. 
After we left the train park we stopped at a store in Old Town Scottsdale so Spencer could use some Christmas money to add to his rock collection.  Then he asked to take pictures with his new rocks.  He is my son for sure. 

I try to provide balanced meals for my kids, but sometimes you just have to make and serve Ramen noodles.  In my defense I use very little of the salty seasoning and served it with carrots, apples and string cheese.
 
Elliott had no complaints.


And just like that.  Vacation was over.  Spencer went back to school the next day and I went to work.  It was totally depressing.

3 comments:

Sherry said...

Mmmm, you know what...those Ramen noodles look so yummy (maybe I am just hungry because it is lunch time here, and I just had a juice beverage for breakfast...a part of my get healthy attempts). There is something about the texture and flavor of Ramen noodles that no other noodles have. Haha! I think Elliott agrees. Brody would have loved your day exploring the trains (toot toots as he would say repeatedly like a broken record). I really want to take him to see some and ride on one. He was very cute this weekend when we were eating at a little restaurant that was right next to the train tracks where our little light rail train system runs, and he loved when one would go past and just stood at the window watching them. Our waiter picked him up and took him out onto the balcony/porch to watch. I "heart" little boy obsessions, don't you! :-)

Maryellen said...

I LOVE that the boys wore train shirts to the train park! That is completely awesome!! I'm sorry that your break is over but you ended it on a very fun note!!

Cat said...

So I was totally thinking the same thing Maryellen said about the train shirts on the train. (I swear I thought this before I saw her comment!) :)