#1 - It was expensive.
#2 - I was worried that Nora would be very excited about it, until we got there, at which point she would freak out and refuse to do anything fun, sort of like Dutch Wonderland.
#3 - I hate crowds. And traffic. And waiting in line. And pretty much anything else that goes along with things that are designed for family fun.
The truth is, if Bari had not gotten in touch, we would have missed it and at some point I would have realized it. I might have felt a twinge of (feigned) guilt, but secretly I would have felt like I had dodged a bullet.
But then I had this thought: The past month had been horrible. Nora had had strep followed by a cough that wouldn't quit (which eventually turned into a double ear infection). I had to work on a couple of weekends and had several really challenging projects in my grad class. Sam had been back and forth to New Rochelle to be with his sick grandmother and Nora had gone along a few times as well which meant a lot of time strapped into a car seat. There had been too much bad news and not enough fun. So, I booked the tickets, thinking that's what a good mom does.
The following Friday night we met Bari and her family for dinner at Lancaster Brewing, our go-to for loud, family friendly fare that still feels a little hip. It was nice catching up with Bari, though to be fair, we know each other way better on-line (and via facebook) than we did went we worked 50 yards apart a decade ago. And we have a lot more in common now, too, seeing as our kids are six weeks apart. As always, dining with Nora is like dining with a timebomb, and this is how the night ended:
. . .or at least that's how our night with Bari and her family ended. Our "night" continued from 1:40am - 3:15am when Nora's cough that wouldn't quit robbed us all of our sleep. And then we had to get up the next morning and leave the house by 8am to get to Thomas(!) on time. It was not a very pleasant morning and when Sam suggested we didn't have to go I barked at him something about the amount of money I (we) had spent on the tickets and we piled into the car. I was shaking with sleep deprivation as we drove and I could only think that this was why people with kids at theme parks always looked so miserable. I could not believe we had become that family.
Upon arrival though, things began to look up... It was chilly but not too cold. We didn't have to park too far away and we were towards the front of the line to board Thomas'(!) initial ride of the day. Nora enjoyed being on the train and clapped when everyone else clapped, though I'm not sure she knew what she was clapping about... After the train we had our picture taken with Thomas(!), played at the train table, listened to a man sing songs from my parent's youth and ate cheese fries and soft pretzels. We also took a ride on a trolley thingy and walked trough a train car that had been decked out as a museum/pro-coal propaganda tank. We met with Bari and her family and enjoyed spending time with them as well as Thomas(!) pulled in and out of the station.
All in all, it was a pretty great morning, there were few bad lines (except for the donuts!) and no traffic in or out of the event. I was glad we had faced my fears, paid the money, and experienced something that Nora is still talking about a week later. It was nice to have a morning as a family and to make some memories. I'm so glad Bari got in touch.
And by the way, here's her take on the day.
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