I wanted to share some photos from our trip to the Arkansas Railroad Museum on Wednesday. We really weren't sure what we were going to find upon arriving in Pine Bluff and were hoping for a train car for the kids to climb around in. We were excited that the museum was a mini railroad mecca for a small child who loves trains. The museum is the home of Engine 819 - the last 4-8-4 Nothern type steam locomotive that was built in Pine Bluff, or Arkansas, for that matter. (We had purchased a photo of the 819 for Noah's room while at the Smokey Mountain Rail Road for the Thomas the Tank Engine ride last year). We also found passenger cars, cabooses, baggage cars, and more, all restored to their original state back in the days of the steam engines. Noah was in a bit of an awe as he looked at the photos, uniforms, memorabilia, mini train set-ups in HO, G, and Lionel. He was a little shy of climbing up in the train cars and engines, but was fine as long as his Daddy went along with him. There was a ton of stuff to look at and see, even experience. You could walk through almost all the train cars and sit in the seats, lay on the beds, check out the stoves, and so much more. There were tons of artifacts to look at that were used during the time period of the steam engines and it was interesting to walk through and take it all in. As Doug said to me, it puts in you a different place and time and is just a small glimpse of what it was like back then. Amazing. Perhaps I have caught a tiny bit of the train fever our little boy has had since he got his very first train for his first birthday.
Noah had his first big soccer game today. We were so excited because he was really into the whole experience and he ran fast and played hard. There are two thirty minute halves to the game for these little guys, where they play three on three with no goalie. Noah played 3/4 of the entire game and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. By the end of the game he was exhausted and ready to be done, but he was so excited about how he played and how he did. He was a happy kid for the rest of the day, telling us how much he liked soccer. We couldn't have been any prouder of our little dude as we were watching him out there playing and smiling and having fun.
