Trains, trains, trains!

God bless advertising.  Back in November, I saw an ad in "The New Yorker" for the New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show.  Our resident two-year old happens to be fond of trains.  There wasn't anything in particular that Mark and I wanted to get Frances for Christmas (that's what grandparents are for) so we decided our Christmas "gift" to her would be a trip to the train show.  I am so glad we did.

We had such a good time.  We drove down after Mark's work on a Friday night, arriving around 11 p.m.  Frances stayed awake almost the whole time and was shaking like a leaf by the time we arrived (that's what she does when she's really tired).  But she was up and ready to go at 6:30 Saturday morning.  We met up with our friends Beka and Dan and headed to the Bronx.

The train show was in the Botanical Garden's conservatory.



I'd say almost a dozen trains were going around the room, winding their way amongst replicas of famous New York City buildings, recreated from all natural materials, like bark, twigs and leaves.  The buildings were fantastic.

There were also two (or three?) large bridges spanning the room, again replicas of actual New York bridges.  I'm not so good on my bridges, but this may have been the George Washington Bridge (Dan, Beka, Dad - am I right on this?)

Here's Dan, bonding with Frances.

Here's Beka, doing a little better with the bonding.  (See, Dan, you hold the child's hand.)

And here's the reason we came: to watch Frances, giddy with happiness, waving at Thomas the Tank Engine.  And she didn't just do this when she found Thomas.  She waved at him every time he came around the bend.  Every ten seconds or so.  Until her mother lied to her about going to look for a Percy train.  In my defense, I thought I heard another mother talking about a Percy train.  In retrospect, she may have been lying too.

That's Yankee Stadium in the bottom right corner.  Bark was used in the stands to suggest the crowds.  It's surrounded by a waterfall and miniature pepper plants.  The vegetation around the trains and building replicas was my favorite part.  I had worried that the dioramas would be showing their age after about two months of display, but the vegetation was completely lush, full of miniature peppers and tiny Christmas cacti.  And I don't think Frances was too traumatized by being tricked away from Thomas.  She was willing to wave at anything on tracks.

And then we loaded Frances up in the car and she slept all the way home.  I'm so glad we went.  I bet we'll do it again for Christmas 2012.  When, exactly, do kids start remembering all the wonderful things their parents take them to?  Surely, by the time she's three...