Come on ride that train...

Ha Ha--who's singing that song in their head now?  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  But ride that train is just what we did on Friday.  There's this group of people called the Mid South Live Steamers and they have these model trains.  But they're not the tiny little model train you might think--they're big enough for people to ride on.  And they come out to Maury County Park in Columbia a few times a year and have a sort of festival.  Jamie had been before, and since both Russ and Campbell love trains, we decided to head down there on Friday morning.

Thankfully Mom agreed to come with us--I definitely couldn't have taken care of both my boys without her--thanks, Mom, you're the best!  Anyway, we checked the forecast before we left and it looked like there was a little rain, but we thought we'd head down anyway.  As soon as we got there it started pouring rain and they had to stop the train rides.  The boys were so upset.  But they had some tents set up with other things to do, so we decided to try to stick it out.  First order of business--funnel cakes!  Yum!  You can't have a festival in the south without deep fried dough, and this one was no different.  Between the 5 of us (Andrew did not partake) we downed 2 of them.  I couldn't even get Campbell to quit eating his to pose for this picture.  But before you start to worry about Andrew, he still had fun without the funnel cakes.

They also had some other fun activities.  There was a band playing when we got there, and Russ and Campbell had a blast dancing and entertaining the people around us.

Then they had a storyteller who was pretty good, and after her was a kids' music show where they brought some of the kids on stage to dance around.  Look who tried to grab the microphone--his dad would be so proud.  

But they loved being on stage.  The picture above is Campbell dancing with the lady who was leading them.  Unfortunately, I missed this part because I was in the car feeding Andrew who had been a trooper and finally conked out.

Then finally, the rain stopped and we ran over to jump in line for the train rides.  At this point we'd been there for a pretty long time, so the boys had all just about had it, but when it got to be our turn, they couldn't wait to hop on that train.  I had Andrew in the carrier thing strapped to me, and as you can see above, he was sound asleep.  They had told me at the gate that he could ride with me like that since if I let him go he wouldn't fall, but the conductor said they had new rules and no one under 18 months could ride.  Bummer!  But I understand that they have to follow these rules for insurance stuff.  Those darn insurance people--what can you do with them!?!  :)  Anyway, so I ended up being the photographer and Mom rode with Campbell.  You can see he is clearly devastated that I couldn't go.  The ride was 2.5 miles long, and they wound all around the park and even went through a few tunnels.  It was really neat.  It ended up being a really long day, but it was definitely worth it.  We all had a great time and will probably go back and see them next time they're here.  We'll just hope for a little more sunshine next time.

And I'd also like to say Happy 4 Months to Andrew.  He's getting so big and growing up so fast.  I can't even believe it.