Waiting for the Train

Trains! Trains! Trains!

Silver trains. Black trains.

Speeding-down the track trains.

This is the opening of one of our favorite books, Trains! Steaming! Pulling! Huffing! by Patricia Hubbel. So naturally, we were all excited to learn that the iconic Steam Locomotive No. 844 would be chugging right past our house on Monday.

 

We went to the Union Station the day before where we posed by the huge wheels which measured 80” in diameter and got a quick look inside of the engine of 844. The kids also got to see 833, which is out of service.

At 8 am Monday morning, we bundled up and braved sub-freezing temperatures for 30 minutes to see No. 844 for approximately 30 seconds.

I think there is something melodic about the distinctive whoo-whoooo of the whistle, followed by the chuffing of the steam and accompanied by the clickety-clack of the wheels on the track; the sounds of a steam engine are almost soothing. Brayden just thought it was loud. Cool, but loud.

This is the second time in their four short years that the twins have been able to see a steam engine go past our house. When we got back inside, they immediately wanted to know when we could see it again. Hopefully soon.

While most people think that living near railroad tracks is a nuisance, we enjoy it. The kids get so excited every time they here the horn on a diesel train and run to get a view of it. It is also fun to get a glimpse of the past through events like this. My Grandpa Mildon worked for the railroad and that's how he ended up living in Uintah. My Dad remembers seeing steam engines go be every day, but on special days they would wait outside to see a brand new diesel engine, sneaking a peek into the future. My parents liked it so much that they made it their permanent home as well. We are fortunate to be third generation Uintahns and experience all that the town has to offer. Maybe someday our little railroad aficionados will make it their home as well.

Giving Thanks for Traditions

At my bridal shower, my soon-to-be sister-in-law gave me this advice: “Keep the traditions going; they are very important to Andy.” At the time I didn’t really understand the impact of traditions. My family didn’t have any real rituals that I could think of. But they obviously meant a lot to my husband, so we carried on some of his family’s traditions. Every Christmas, we baked and frosted countless sugar cookies. Even when I was recovering from surgery and barely had the energy to eat cookies, let alone frost them! But it was tradition, so I (begrudgingly) went along with it.

It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I understood the importance of traditions; they give young and old alike a sense of comfort and security in an every changing world. Sometimes change can be scary—like the first time a toddler encounters an automatic flushing toilet! Traditions make things less scary. This summer, as I watched my three kids look forward to getting Grandma M’s mail every day and take such pleasure in helping Grandpa M fill up the bird feeders each week, I realized that even small, everyday tasks can become much anticipated traditions.   

I started thinking back to my own childhood again and realized that my family did have quite a few traditions: like the plate of frosted graham crackers that we got to eat on our birthday BEFORE it was time for cake or watching Jazz games with my Grandma M. and eating the gummy bears that she kept on hand just for me.

Sometimes, breaking traditions once in a while can be even more memorable than carrying them on. For example, while vacationing in Southern California over Thanksgiving one year my family ended up eating Pizza Hut pizza for dinner instead of the traditional Thanksgiving feast. My parents told us we could choose any restaurant we wanted and we picked Pizza Hut! We still laugh about that to this day.

This Thanksgiving, with an attitude of gratitude, I am giving thanks for traditions, big and small! It has been so much fun creating our own family traditions with Andy and the kids: annual family vacations, giving goodbye bones at the door, family themed costumes on Halloween and Sunday hikes.

As I mentioned before, we have also kept the cookie tradition alive and the kids get so excited to help Mommy and (especially) Daddy when cookie day arrives. They even have their own little rolling pin.

Another tradition that we kept going was having soufflé for breakfast every Christmas. Andy’s family finds this funny because as a child, he refused to eat soufflé. During this phase his Mom cooked two Christmas breakfasts: one for Andy and one for the rest of the family. Cooking two breakfasts is a tradition I hope I never have to duplicate! I do hope, however, that my children carry on some of our traditions when they have families of their own and even invite me over for Christmas breakfast when I'm old and grey(er).

Now it's your turn. What are some of your family traditions? I'm always looking for new ideas!

The Saga of Sulley

Move over, Martha! There’s a new criminal in town and I’m killing it with the craftiness! Like many crimes today, mine was born out of necessity from the struggling economy. I simply did not have upwards of $1,000 to buy a Sulley costume. That’s right. . .$1,000!

It all started in late September when we were talking to the kids about what our family was going to dress up as for Halloween. A few different ideas were tossed around and we finally landed on Monsters, Inc. Before finalizing things, I did a quick search on e-Bay to make sure I could find a Sulley costume for Andy. There were lots. After I had already made the twins’ costumes and purchased Lexi’s, I got back on e-Bay to bid on one for Andy. It was then that I realized the majority of the costumes were for kids; the adult sized costumes were very rare. Disney discontinued them and put them in the “vault.” Probably so they can bring them back to coincide with the sequel scheduled for 2013, Monsters University.

After bidding—and losing by a HUGE margin—on the only three adult Sulley costumes I could find, I became desperate. Time was running out. I called Savers and the DI to see if by some miracle someone was as naïve as me, didn’t realize the value of the costume and decided to donate it. No such luck. Costume rental shops? Nope. I called Disneyland and Disneyworld. Nada. Disney outlet stores? Nothing. I couldn’t even attempt to sew Andy’s costume because not one fabric store between Sandy and Logan carried blue faux fur—or even white faux fur that I could dye for that matter! I was really getting stressed out at this point. The kids were so excited, I didn’t want to be mean mommy (yet again!) and ruin their fun.

Then, as I was watching Monsters Inc. with the kids for the bazillionth time, I noticed something. Sulley looks a lot like the abominable snowman. And that’s when I hatched my brilliant plan. I would buy an abominable snowman costume and modify it to look like Sulley. It would be simple really—a misdemeanor on the scale of craftiness if you will. With my sister as my long-distance accomplice cheering me on, I got to work.

In the mean time, a fourth costume that I was bidding on sold, but the buyer didn’t pay. So the seller contacted me and offered it to me for the low, low price of $520. It was tempting. I could turn around and sell it next year and maybe even make a profit. But after hemming and hawing, I decided it was too much of a gamble and went back to the snowman.

The first step was to dye the costume teal blue just like Sulley. One quick trip to the craft store and I had a bottle of Rit Fabric Dye and some purple fabric spray paint for step two. Unfortunately, the dye only turned the fur a very pale sky blue. Another trip to the craft store. I decided to use fabric spray paint on the entire thing since the dye didn’t work. I took the costume outside and began to spray it over the grass. But the clothing rack I had it on was too wobbly and the wind was blowing slightly. So I moved onto the paving stones where I thought I had cardboard strategically placed to catch any overspray; unfortunately, I did not. I had committed a felony in the eyes of my dear, sweet hubby—whom I affectionately refer to as Anal Andy—and vandalized our property. This time, with my brother as my accomplice I set out to destroy the evidence of my crime with some paint thinner. Nope. Lacquer thinner. Uh-uh. Acetone? Not even close. The paving stones are still blue. (Sigh.)

Next up: one pair of gloves and one pair of shoe covers. The fur only partially covered each. The rest was white rubber with unsightly brownish colored veins all over. I decided the best fix was once again spray paint. This time I used extreme caution when painting. Things were finally starting to fall into place.

Fast forward to three days later when I checked on the gloves and discovered that the paint was still tacky. For some reason the paint would not fully dry on the rubber. So, on Halloween morning I made yet another trip to the store for a pair of brown gloves. I found about 20 single gloves in a box on the shelf, but none of them had tags. I grabbed two and took them up to the register. The clerk informed me that they were only sold in packs of 6 and she couldn’t sell them to me. Ummm, yeah. Then why is there a box with so many single gloves in there? Whatever. I made another quick run up and down the aisle and found a different pair. That afternoon I unstitched the fur from the rubber gloves and sewed it on the gloves I just bought and put the finishing touches on the costume.

Much to my pleasure, Sulley only slightly resembled an overgrown cookie monster dressed as a Viking. Brayden, Makenzie and Alexis all overwhelmingly approved. Most people knew exactly who he was despite the fact that he didn’t have a tail. One teenage boy even yelled “Kitty!” when he saw Andy. Awesome! A few people took pictures. Very cool. I tried to ignore the people who thought he was supposed to be Sascawatch. Since when does Sascawatch have horns, purple polka dots and purple triangles on his back? Idiots.

So was the crime worth the time and punishment? I’ll let you be the judge.