Sometimes things go BETTER than planned.
You know how you make plans for something that you believe will be a little special and it turns out to not be so great or just so so. That was what I thought might happen with a little early present I gave my family. Umm.. no. It turned out to be a very beautiful memory making fun filled day!
I bought tickets for the Cuyahoga Valley Senic Railroad for my daughter, son-in-law, grandson and Jen. I didn't get one of the Christmas runs as they were booked and I didn't think that was what most of us would want. Everyone seemed happy when they found out about the tickets and we all looked forward to the day.
The day was beautiful! You couldn't have asked for a better mid December day for that kind of an outing. We had fun standing on the platform chatting and waiting for the train. Only one of us had ridden a train before so some of us were like little kids.
We took the train up to Penisula then got off to shop the little art galleries there. We enjoyed looked at the local art and in the second shop got a VERY pleasant surprise. The shop is a not for profit organization to promote the arts. We found out they had glass blowing taking place in the back of the shop. We all like to watch glass blowing so we spent quite a bit of time there. THEN we found out about the glasses they give! They will take up to four students at a time so J, S, D and myself are talking about doing one together! S and I were particularly excited. You get to do a couple of simple blown art pieces in the first five hour class. Oh yeah!
We then walked up to a little cabin gallery that had some very pretty things. We bought a beautiful hand painted ornament for the tree. I could have spent a couple hundred in there easily!!
By this time we needed to get back to the platform to catch the train back. While we were waiting we entertained ourselves by taking picturs and talking. I have picts of S and J lying on the tracks looking like a train is about to hit them. I love carefree people!!
On the way back everyone on the train was talking and laughing. Good energy. Then my grandson said something about singing. Being the non shy types we started to sing a little... then a couple more joined.., then a few more. Next thing you know we had the whole car singing Christmas carols!!! It totally rocked. Talk about a festive atmosphere! A woman in from of us turned around and said "I've been riding this train for years now and this is the most fun I've ever had!" That just warmed my heart as I realized that our joy was spilling over to other people. We finished up a very loud and funny rendition of The Twelve days of Christmas just before we rolled into the station. People were clapping and whooping when we were done. Yeah. THAT's the way to do a Christmas train ride!
So, Memory created. Not just for us but for many. I can't even begin to tell you just how grateful I am.
After that it was a yummy dinner with the family then we headed home where Jen and I spent the evening making cookies.
I bought tickets for the Cuyahoga Valley Senic Railroad for my daughter, son-in-law, grandson and Jen. I didn't get one of the Christmas runs as they were booked and I didn't think that was what most of us would want. Everyone seemed happy when they found out about the tickets and we all looked forward to the day.
The day was beautiful! You couldn't have asked for a better mid December day for that kind of an outing. We had fun standing on the platform chatting and waiting for the train. Only one of us had ridden a train before so some of us were like little kids.
We took the train up to Penisula then got off to shop the little art galleries there. We enjoyed looked at the local art and in the second shop got a VERY pleasant surprise. The shop is a not for profit organization to promote the arts. We found out they had glass blowing taking place in the back of the shop. We all like to watch glass blowing so we spent quite a bit of time there. THEN we found out about the glasses they give! They will take up to four students at a time so J, S, D and myself are talking about doing one together! S and I were particularly excited. You get to do a couple of simple blown art pieces in the first five hour class. Oh yeah!
We then walked up to a little cabin gallery that had some very pretty things. We bought a beautiful hand painted ornament for the tree. I could have spent a couple hundred in there easily!!
By this time we needed to get back to the platform to catch the train back. While we were waiting we entertained ourselves by taking picturs and talking. I have picts of S and J lying on the tracks looking like a train is about to hit them. I love carefree people!!
On the way back everyone on the train was talking and laughing. Good energy. Then my grandson said something about singing. Being the non shy types we started to sing a little... then a couple more joined.., then a few more. Next thing you know we had the whole car singing Christmas carols!!! It totally rocked. Talk about a festive atmosphere! A woman in from of us turned around and said "I've been riding this train for years now and this is the most fun I've ever had!" That just warmed my heart as I realized that our joy was spilling over to other people. We finished up a very loud and funny rendition of The Twelve days of Christmas just before we rolled into the station. People were clapping and whooping when we were done. Yeah. THAT's the way to do a Christmas train ride!
So, Memory created. Not just for us but for many. I can't even begin to tell you just how grateful I am.
After that it was a yummy dinner with the family then we headed home where Jen and I spent the evening making cookies.