two choo choos!

We all had a great time getting away for a long weekend. I think Asher liked every part of the vacation. He always gets really excited to sleep in his own "big bed" at a hotel. Here he is riding on the luggage cart:

Realizing we've rarely had a picture of all of us together, since Ezra was born, I had someone at the hotel take our picture:

We started out in NE at the zoo in Omaha. Asher was really excited to see all the animals, especially since we rode a train to get to the far side of the zoo:

His favorite animal changes daily from the penguins to the white alligator. Grandpa gave Asher some fun money to pick out a treat. In addition to a cute Emperor Penguin stuffed animal, Asher picked out the biggest sucker he could find:

Later we went to Boone, IA to ride a real steam engine. It was a big train and Asher loved it. He talked about it daily before we left, and I think he enjoyed every aspect of the museum and the train ride. Here he is at the museum and exploring trains outside the museum:


Al and Asher seemed to love the high bridge. They said it was really cool how the steam from the engine made a rainbow under the trestle. I didn't care to look out the open window, being sooo far above the river. I think we all thought it was cool when we got to see the engine drive past the passenger cars, when switching to the other end to go back to the station:

Al got a great picture of Asher looking out the train window:

After we were done, Asher informed us that it was "a little bit loud, but not too loud" when the train tooted the horn. When I tell people that we went on vacation to ride a train, Asher makes sure they know we rode "two trains!" one at the zoo and one in Boone. It's fun to see the kids' enthusiasm. Asher had just as much fun visiting Val and Larry and playing at a park in Ames. Ezra, of course, doesn't do much, but he seemed to enjoy himself too: