Thursday, February 19, 2009

All Aboard the Birthday Train

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Birthday parties are fun and a must for us. But as I mentioned, we like smaller parties and enjoy spreading the fun out. My favorite birthday tradition in our family is our birthday 'experience'. That is when we do something, as a family, that is meaningful and special for the birthday guy or gal.

Last year, for Christopher's sixth birthday, we took a train ride (on National Ride A Train Day, coincidentally). We started in San Juan Capistrano and hopped a ride (not too long, not too short) up to Fullerton. We surprised Christopher by meeting some great family friends. We shared a fun dinner and dessert at the Slide Bar (a rockin' good time, I might add) and rode back.

Christopher loved it all but was especially thrilled that we almost missed our train. We literally ran at full speed (mama acting as caboose in our family train) and barely made our train home--extra excitement. We were just having so much fun at dinner that we lost track of time (In case you are planning a similar trip just know that our timing would have been perfect but our ride up to dinner was 45 minutes delayed. It cut into our layover a bit but, then again, it did add to the excitement. Worth it, I think.).

The ride up was filled with exuberant kids bouncing all around and announcing every site they see out the window, while the husband and I took note of the college kids across from us on their way up to a concert...ah, youth.... While the ride home was good for snuggles and it seemed especially thrilling since we were out after dark, on the train (think Polar Express).

All around a memorable experience.

1 comment:

Daniel. said...

Wow, I was uncertain if I wanted to have kids before reading this...I know for sure that I must...that sounds so rewarding.