All aboard! All aboard!

We are kind of train obsessed around my house; we live close to downtown Plano, which is right on the DART line, so when we go downtown to eat, we see the train, and Anna loves to say "Hi Train! Here it comes!" while waving frantically. We also watch a lot of a PBS show called "Dinosaur Train" around the house. I originally thought that the show was a documentary, but once I got a couple of episodes in, I realized that it was historical fiction and was able to deal with some of the inconsistencies presented by the storylines.

Anna is just about two, and not too long ago we got to actually go on the train; as a family we took advantage of Dart's new green line and rode down to the State Fair of Texas, leaving our car parked comfortably at home. Anna was very excited, especially when we first boarded the train. Luckily, we were able to secure a seat, and I was able to get a couple of pictures of her. We went at snacktime, so she does have food on the train. Anna is a rebel, and I explained to her that you must live within the rules if you want to succeed - but she ate her cheddar bunnies in defiance of the no food sign.



She spent a lot of the trip into Dallas looking out the window and standing up on the seat, but once we got into downtown Dallas, the trains got much more crowded, and she went into her stroller for safety. The fair was obviously very exciting for her but we didn't stay long, as it was the last day and it was very very very very crowded, and it was really no fun. We left around 8pm, after Anna got to go to the petting zoo and watch some pig races.

Getting on the train for the ride home was brutal. Obviously since we had a stroller we were at a disadvantage, but a DART employee saw us at the station and put us in the right spot to get on the low floor train car. We thought that standing right in front was the key, but we were surprised to find ourselves being edged out as the train approached the station; someone even stepped right in front of the stroller. Being tired, and since it was the end of a long day, I asked her not so politely to stop jostling the stroller, and wait her turn. I may have offered to push her under the train, on that I'm not clear. She moved, we boarded (luckily we ended up on the red line, which took us directly to Plano) and were on the way. Anna got her second wind and stood up in the seat next to me the entire way, looking out the window and hollering "All aboard" at every stop, just like they do on the Dinosaur Train. It was a fun ride home with our little conductor, and she got lots of waves and smiles from her passengers as they entered and exited the train.