We rode the Coopersville & Marne Railway today. It was the very first time Brendan had ever been on a REAL train!
We got to the ticket booth just in time, purchased our tickets and walked over to the train where we met ...
"Oh! Mr. Topham!" was what Brendan had to say about this kind conductor, who offered Brendan his hat … but Brendan did NOT want to wear it and promptly returned it.
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| Our kind conductor |
Brendan was a little bit uneasy about this train thing at first, so he stuck by his dear mama (very closely I might add).
At each crossing (and there were several close together leaving the Coopersville station), the train sounded it's horn. This was Little Fellow's reaction to all that noise!
But very soon, he became accustomed to his surroundings and made himself comfortable ...
Brendan very much enjoyed the scenery and the whole experience ...
He checked out all the lights ...
And I think he was keeping track of every single picture I snapped of him today! Look at that face.
I brought many of Brendan's favorite train books along with us, and he enjoyed reading them out loud to us in his own sweet manner ...
Brendan is a total "Thomas the Train" fan. Presently, Thomas and Percy are his favorites.
When the train arrived in Marne, we got to disembark while the engine was being brought around to the other end of the train and coupled there ...
Brendan is pointing out the windshield wipers that are on this little yellow track car ...
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I haven't any idea in the world what this expression means …
those eyes! |
I had myself quite the photo shoot here, didn't I? What a great location to take a picture of this darling and sweet Little Fellow!
We climbed back on board our train and took off again for Coopersville; but after about a mile or so into our return trip, the train kind of … choked … and stuttered … shook … and then it just QUIT … right in the middle of nowhere! The ticket man said two fuses had "blown" and they were just going to have to … wait to … fix … the engine!
Thankfully, our train car had a few talented musicians … I totally neglected to get their names, and I so regret it. I'm just going to have to refer to them as "Hank" and "Marilyn" … they did some good old train songs ("I've Been Working on the Railroad"), some folk tunes ("This Land is Your Land"), a few children's gospel songs ("Jesus Loves Me") and other southern gospel music too. We all sang along ~ it was so great!
"Marilyn" sang harmony and "Hank" played the gee-tar as well as this amazing rotatory harmonica thing (see picture above)!
"Marilyn" even added a nice train whistle to the mix now and then ...
After a little while of sitting around and eating all of our snacks, the little kids on the train started moving around … and exploring … good idea!
Brendan and I walked to the very back of the train to see what we could see ...
And we walked and walked through Car #1 and Car #2 ...
Until we came to this closed door … there must be a way to open this door, Grandma! So we pushed and pulled ...
And, yay! We got to go inside the caboose! Brendan was so pleased!
Brendan was all set to go "boldly, where no man has gone!"
So we explored the entire caboose and then went outside to see the engine ...
And then we heard the good news! The engine was … fixed! In the meantime, TWO HOURS have gone by. A few of the passengers got off the train and walked back to Marne because they had an appointment they could not miss. Fortunately, most of the other folk were just fine. We just figured we got an extra two hours of FUN.
Little Fellow settled down for the ride back into Coopersville. It didn't take long, with the rhythm of the cars, the cool breeze blowing through the windows, and the love of his mama (and his grandma) to put this sweetheart right to sleep.
Brendan slept almost all the way back to the Coopersville station. Isn't he just the sweetest little person? I'm so glad we got to have this "misadventure" today.
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