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A couple times a year, the Strasburg RR hosts “A Day With Thomas”. Kids (and parents) get to ride on a real train pulled by none other than Thomas the Tank Engine. This week, Lily and Grace got to make their first visit to see Thomas and ride on the train. Lily thoroughly enjoyed the train rides (we also got to ride on a train pulled by Percy, Thomas’ friend). She met Sir Topham Hat and rode two smaller scale steam and diesel trains. Of course, we visited the Thomas store.
Some photos are here.
Today, family and many friends from the Shelbourne Galaxy paid homage to the grand occasion of Emperor Henry's Day of Birth by holding a galaxy wide battle of tribute. Advanced weapons of N.E.R.F. were used by both sides of the battle. In the end, the great Henry declared ALL were WINNERS! Some documentation of the battle and celebration are HERE.
We hung a bird feeder outside one of our windows a while ago. We've been diligently filling the feeder with all sorts of bird feed. The feeder has attracted a variety of customers. The most infamous is the squirrel that lives under our neighbors play set. We regularly see him attacking the feeder. We've put a Slinky over the hanger pole to discourage his climbing up the pole. That seems to work, but he has an amazing ability to jump and leaps directly onto the feeder hanging on it precariously as he grabs the goodies. Still, on some nights, it seems half of the feeder full is consumed. We're finding in hard to believe that this little squirrel can eat all of that food in one night? Maybe deer? We see them in the driveway on a regular basis. Recently, we also saw a fox.
Not sure what these birds are. A couple appear to be cardinals without their bright coloring. The others?? If you recognize any of these visitors, drop me a note. Pics are HERE.
We were blessed to have a new family member born to Rebecca and Steve. Welcome Eli Steven Klein. Not even six pounds and 20 inches long, Eli is a cutie. He has strong lungs, that's for sure. Some pics are posted in the Photos section. Welcome, Eli. We, all, love you.
Henry (99) and the Valley Forge Colonials played a hockey game at the Oaks Center. VFC won but I didn't manage to capture too many highlights on the video below. There are loads of photos in the PHOTOS section of this web site.
A small, family celebration was held for Lily's 2nd birthday. Lily opened her presents and, in typical fashion, when she came upon a gift that she really liked, the gift opening process went off track while Lily spent some time enjoying her new favorite. She did eventually get around to all of her presents though. At the same time, we enjoyed some refreshments. It was then time for the birthday cake. Lily patiently endured the song but then went right at the tiny confetti fish on her cake. It's fair to say she was a little possessive of the little "fishies". Photos are in the PHOTOS section and a short video is linked below. Happy Birthday, Lily!
Although we celebrated Lily's birthday ON her birthday, her Pop made arrangements for Lily to have a second celebration on one of her favorite rides. He rented the Carousel at Pottstown for an afternoon party. The Carousel at Pottstown is the second oldest remaining carousels in the U.S. The carousel was painstakingly restored over the course of twenty years. It is a marvel to see. Lily, and everyone, had a great time. See below.
Well, January seems to be a very popular month for childbirth in our family. Three birthdays were celebrated this week; Sadie, now five and Emma, now six. Photos from my iPhone are in the Photos section. Sadie and Emma celebrated a party with friends at the Sweet n Sassy Boutique where all the girls got a beautiful makeover (sorry, I wasn't there for pics). Videos of the birthday cakes at home are below.
The third birthday of the week was TODAY. We welcomed a new family member, Miss Grace Olivia Lego, born at 9:24 AM, weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and twenty-one and half inches long. She is a cutie as you can see in the few photos I took this evening.
Today, Troop 303 of the Boy Scouts of America celebrated the achievement of the rank of Eagle Scout by our grandson, Joshua Aidan Grant, by holding an Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It was a very challenging day with early morning snow making the roads treacherous. Withstanding the weather many scouts, scout leaders, friends and relatives arrived for the COH. The Court included administration of the Eagle Charge, presentation of the Eagle pin, presentation of the Mother's and Father's Eagle pins, presentation of a Citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by Representative Kampf, along with stories by Assistant Scoutmaster Rossi and Mr. Rakszawski. A slide show displayed pictures of Josh in various scout activities, some quite funny. After the Court closed, a reception was hosted by Josh's parents. Photos of the Court of Honor are here in the Photos section. A video of the key portions of Court is below.
This Christmas season, we made a visit to the Brandywine Railroad at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The museum, focused on conservancy and the art of the Wyeth family of painters, has an annual Christmas display of trains on a large layout. The layout is only temporary for the season and is disassembled after the holidays and stored in 27 separate pieces. All of the ballast on the layout is hand laid each year and left unsecured so that it can be removed before disassembly. Then, re-laid the following year. The layout uses two-rail O gauge trains, most running conventionally. A few MTH locomotives are now in use and the railroad plans to gradually convert to MTH DCS power.
Our granddaughter, Lily, 21 months, loves trains. As you can tell from the photos and the video below she is fascinated by the railroad and would have been willing to stay there all day. Lily got a lot of help from her Dad and Uncle Mark who showed her all aspects of the display.
Missing this year was the display of antique dolls. Semi-annually, the museum also has a display of the Wyeth family doll collection at this time. This year was the "off" year. The dolls will return next Christmas.
I'm pretty certain Lily will be back, again. Some photos of the visit are here.
This week we went to the King of Prussia mall to visit Santa Claus. Have to say it wasn't the Santa that we have been used to; somewhat different look. The kids were excited and excellent when it was their turn to visit with the jolly guy. One was so excited, Henry, he actually forgot to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. As he was leaving that was pointed out to H and he had the opportunity to one-on-one with Santa for a few moments to correct that oversight.
Dinner after the Santa visit included four still-excited grandkids with the expected results. Of course, their parents managed to manipulate themselves onto a separate table; leaving Grammy and Pop-pop with the kids. Fun. One short video below. Photos in the Photo section.
