Life happens...so does a Tattoo!

So...I have failed as a "blogger". Life has been very crazy lately. In the last 3 months, we have moved, rented out our condo, been BUSY with both our jobs, took up bowling as our new evening hobby and the kiddo started Kindergarten! I feel that finally now with him in school, life will settle a bit. We have had zero time on weekends because of work and other summer activities to get ourselves to the local train museum. Nicholas has been asking so maybe if he gets a good report at school this week we will go. :) However, with our new sport of bowling....we have league nights on Thursday and the kiddo has league on Saturday. We are just busy, busy bees! Something that I have been wanting for a long time is a tattoo. My husband has 2. One of a Duster that he used to drive and one of the 3751 steam locomotive in LA Union Station. I finally got up the courage to get it done yesterday. Here are some pics. I couldn't ask for a better artist. He did both of my husband's tats and many more for a few friends of ours. He made this perfect blend of the pictures I brought him and put his own twist on it. If you are in So. Cal...check him out: Pirates Life Tattoo He does amazing color work.

Homemade Teacher Supply Cake

So...I've been addicted to Pinterest (like really bad)! But it has made my creativeness explode. I was looking for teacher gifts awhile ago and pinned quite a few that I liked. I decided that I was going to make a Supply Cake. I wanted to do something that was useful for the teachers/director & school. Who needs another apple paperweight (not knocking it, but you know what I mean). How much of that stuff do they seriously need/keep?! My son is only in pre-school, so they go through a lot of stuff with the little ones. So, I asked one of my son's pre-school teachers what types of supplies they could use. She gave me a few ideas that I hadn't thought of, ie: staplers/staples. I set out on a mission to Target with no real plan in place and figured I could wing it. I spent about an hour inside the store looking around. The school row was easy...just grabbed a bunch of stuff I knew I could use. The base to the cake was the most difficult. I debated on using Nesting Boxes or paper towel roll (which I had seen on pinterest). But I came up with something totally different. I hope you like it!
This is what I started with: (I ended up not using the stickers I bought, but will given them anyhow)

Here is the base to the cake. 2 sizes of paper plates and a tub of koolaid (great for their summer program!)

I placed everything around the plates and it is all held together by rubber bands. I did not glue anything together. This was my "almost done" picture. I needed to get another pair of scissors, a ruler and pack of gluesticks.

Here is the finished result! I also put together 2 drink cups (filled with packets of crystal light) for each of his classroom teachers. I used ribbon to cover the rubber bands. I cut a square out of a cardboard box and covered it with construction paper for the base to carry it.

Closeup of the stacked rolls of tape holding the pencils.

Closeup of the finished product:

I hope you enjoy my cake. I really enjoyed making it and everyone at school loves it! I was so happy to give it to them today. :)

Blog Update!

So...I've been thinking a lot about my blog lately. I've come to realize that for frequent updates, I can't just make them railroading updates. Yes...we do a LOT of railroad events, but I also want to share other things that we do as a family. So, be prepared for more updates! :)

OERM & ATSF3751

So, last weekend was the only train event weekend of May that we ended up being able to go to. (Sometimes life just gets in the way of having fun!). We could not celebrate Mother's Day on Mother's Day...so we celebrated the following Saturday instead. Saturday was comprised of T-ball in the morning and then off to the Bombshelter at the Perris Air Field for lunch and then to OERM. We invited my in-laws to go with us. This was their 2nd time going to the museum...the first was for Nicholas's 3rd birthday. Nicholas loved showing them around and giving them a taste of what he loves so very much. The whole time we were there, we were also keeping track of the Twitter page of the ATSF3751 to see where they were at on their trip. We were able to get to see the 3751 going through Cajon pass, but it was dark and you couldn't see much. Will have to pay attention for the next time we see her out. I have not uploaded pictures yet from the weekend, so I need to get on that!

A lot of Upcoming Railroad events for May 2012!

May is going to be one busy month with railroading events that are great to take kids to! Saturday & Sunday May 5-6, 2012 - Fullerton Railroad Days - The SF3751 is supposed to be there! We watched the locomotive go by a couple weekends ago in route to and from San Bernardino. We caught it at the Fullerton Station as well as the Claremont Station. Looking forward to being able to see it again. Sunday May 6, 2012 - Antique Truck Show at Orange Empire Railway Museum. We went to this event last year and it was so great to see all the antique trucks/vehicles posing next to the trains. Cool event not to miss! Saturday May 12, 2012 - National Train Day at Union Station - We never miss an opportunity to go to Union station to see their display. Usually because the SF3751 is housed there, so we are always hoping to see her out and about :) We will take the metrolink to union station to give us even more time with trains! Makes for a great day of adventure. Saturday & Sunday May 19-20, 2012 - RailFest at Orange Empire Railway Museum - Cannot wait for this event. :) Always look forward to going to see our friends at the museum. Do you think Nicholas will be tired of all these events in May? I think not! :) If you ever see an event that is going on in So. Cal or neighboring states, please let us know!

SF3751 Trip to San Diego 2010

So, I've mentioned this in previous blogs...but thought I should go into more detail of our adventure.

We were looking for something to do for mother's day weekend. We found out their was a railroad days event planned in San Bernardino that weekend. Perfect. Great fun for us to spend together as a family. As Bryan was on the page for that...he saw a link that said "ride the 3751" (or something like that) and we discovered the excursion to San Diego was the next weekend! We were able to get tickets and were SO excited for the trip.

We planned it all very last minute but it worked perfect! We picked up the SF3751 in Fullerton and headed for San Diego. We had to make a stop at the Pointsettia station to take on water and be serviced. Nicholas was 2 1/2 at the time and he was having a blast! He fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the ride, but that was it. He was just mesmerized by the whole ordeal.

Once we arrived in San Diego...we took a bunch of pictures of the San Diego Station. We love the historic stations! We grabbed a trolley to our hotel. Quickly dumped our bags there and headed to the Padre game (yep...huge Padre fans). Nicholas lasted until the 7th inning before he konked out :) Poor kid. Next day was a SeaWorld adventure. Our last minute planning worked out perfect and we had a great weekend!

Nevada Northern Winter PhotoShoot

So I realized I never posted about our trip in detail to the Nevada Northern Winter Photoshoot.

I found out about a scholarship via their Facebook page. I had to enter 3 pictures that I had taken. Here are the 3 that I submitted:

My Favorite Picture of all:


This was a photo I took during our steam excursion on the SF3751 to San Diego in 2010.


This is also a photo from the excursion to San Diego.


About a week into January I was sitting at the computer and got notification that I had a new email. I read it and while reading it I just kept saying "oh my gosh" "oh my gosh"... Which had caught Nicholas's attention and he kept asking "what?" "what?".

I was beyond excited for such a great opportunity to be able to participate in such a great event. We met up with Mark at a local train show in Anaheim and worked out the details. We planned our trip and it was here before we knew it.

We left So. Cal at 3:30 in the morning. We arrived in Las Vegas around 6:30 am. It was a great drive with no traffic. We stopped for breakfast and headed back on the road about 8am. I was very concerned that the drive was going to be boring on the next stretch of the trip on what looked like a lonely highway. But, was pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful! We arrived in Ely Nevada about 11:30 or so. We quickly checked out the hotel and then headed to the Museum.

We were surrounded by lots of train enthusiasts and this was just a start to the fabulous weekend ahead. It was long days of being up early in the morning to get the great shots in the engine house as the locomotives were getting ready and then a morning full of shooting pictures. Then lunch. Then on to an afternoon full of pictures. We were blessed with sunshine & great weather for most of the weekend. Sunday we awoke to fresh snow on the ground. This was such a nice change to the backdrop of the photos! It was the first time that I had ever seen it snow too!

I took over 2500 pictures!! It was very difficult to edit them all, but I eventually got it all done. I am so thankful that a friend let me borrow a camera for the event. Hopefully one day soon, I'll be getting a camera of my own. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend. I hope you enjoy!










I was so thankful for the opportunity to join such a wonderful event with so many other great people who shared a common interest. I think at first the other participants may have been a bit annoyed that I had a 4 year old around...but they soon realized how much of a true rail fan my young son is. He took in every moment he possibly could (as did I and my husband!). Upon leaving the night photoshoot on Friday, he said "Mom, this place is cooler than Disneyland!" I was taken by surprise by this...but delighted at the same time. *He has been to Disneyland and we did the train around the park quite a few times!* I told Mark (the director at NNRY) what Nicholas said and he told Nicholas that he was his favorite kid! :) We cannot wait to go back to Nevada Northern Railway. It will always hold a very special place in my heart. Also check out this page on my blog. It also has a few photos I took from the 2nd day of the photoshoot.

Train Birthday Party

Nicholas's 3rd birthday party was held at Orange Empire Railway Museum. We rented out their party caboose to have his party. We decided to have it themed around the new cartoon series called Chuggington.

Because the series was so new at the time, there were no decorations or party items available yet. So, I had to hand make everything to get this party together. It was a lot of fun to do, but also a lot of work! Thank goodness for my best friend Melissa helping me bake over 120 cupcakes and helping me to construct the cupcake train!

The party included passes for everyone to ride the trolley cars and the diesel locomotive they had running on their main line that day. We got the majority of our group on the same ride. On our way off the train, the engineer (Ken) running the locomotive asked Nicholas if he would like to come up. SURE!! Nicholas went up in the cab of the locomotive and he was shown all the controls and even got to blow the whistle. He was one HAPPY kid!! I don't think his face could fit a bigger smile then he had all day. The museum went out of their way to ensure that my 3 year old had a great day.

One of the best things we got out of his party is we purchased our memberships to the museum. It allows us to go the museum as much as we want. :)

Does Nicholas take after his Great Grandfather?

My husband's grandfather was a HUGE Railfan. He passed away when Bryan was around 14, so I never got the opportunity to meet him. But a part of me feels that I have met a part of him...a part of him that is in Nicholas. And there have been times that I have never felt closer to him.

He did a lot of model railroading and spent a lot of time walking train tracks. His favorite train was a 4-8-4 (not sure if he had a particular one he liked though). Bryan remembers walking tracks with his grandfather as a child and also remembers playing with electric trains on the living room floor. We regularly chase a local steam locomotive, the SF3751 (which you will see lots of in this blog) which also happens to be a 4-8-4.

So, you can see why we think there is a little bit of Bryan's grandpa showing up in Nicholas :)









The pictures in this post is an experience I'll never forget. We were at the Winter Photoshoot at the Nevada Northern Railway in Ely, Nevada. It was day 2 of the photoshoot and there was a storm coming and the light was coming and going and not cooperating very well. I was about to give up and the clouds sort of parted and streaks of light came through. Thoughts were going through my head of "is this really going to happen..." I was grinning from ear to ear as I was snapping pictures. Chills were repetitively going down my spine. My arms were continually getting goosebumps. It was amazing. All I could think about was his Grandfather...even though I had never met him. As soon as I was in the hotel room that night, I had to show my husband the photos and tell him of what I felt. I actually was feeling a bit guilty that he was not out there and able to feel what I did and see what I did. Words can not describe it.

How we became rail fans.

It was June 2009 and my son was about to turn 2 years old. We took a trip to Toys R Us to pick up a gift or something. We were walking to the back of the store and went by the train section of the store. Nicholas got REALLY excited, so we stopped and he looked at everything and played with the train set they had on display. I was shocked at his enthusiasm about the trains. It was never a thought in my mind to get him trains as toys and he had never seen Thomas the Train on tv either.

I told my husband that night about Nicholas's reaction in the store. He wanted to see it for himself. So, that weekend we went to a different Toy's R Us store and we got the same reaction. We decided for his birthday to purchase the train table set which came with all sorts of wood track, trains & accessories. It was a HIT! He played with it everyday and just loved it.

We decided to introduce him to Thomas the Train and he fell in love with that as well. We found out Thomas was going to come out to a train museum somewhat close to our house in November of 2009. We thought it would be a great time and took him to go see Thomas.

That trip to Orange Empire Railway Museum was life-changing. Nicholas loved Thomas, no doubt, but the excitement he showed towards riding the REAL trains and checking out all the other things the museum had to offer was fantastic.

We decided to go back to the museum that December for their Santa Train. What a difference the event was in comparison to Thomas. The Thomas event was packed and totally crazy. The Santa Train was much calmer and a much more relaxed environment to be able to explore the grounds better. We had a great day checking out all the buildings and seeing all of the museum trains & trolleys. Nicholas...as well as us, had a great time.

Introduction to US!

My name is Jennifer and I have an amazing husband, Bryan. Together, we have our son Nicholas who is 4 1/2.

I decided to start this blog for a few reasons.

1. to document and be able to write down memories of our family's rail adventures
2. to share pictures, ideas, thoughts with others about railroading
3. to help encourage other parents that kids love railroads!