James' First Train Ride

We took James to Laughlin, NV for a little adventure on Saturday and Sunday. There was a car show there, so we booked a room at a hotel for Saturday night and made a weekend out of it. When I was researching the area online, I found out that there was a little passenger train at the Tropicanna Express, one of the casinos in town, and I knew James would be really excited to ride it.

We got to Laughlin at about noon and headed out to look at some of the cars on display. It was hot, so we stopped for an old-fashioned lemonade--James LOVED it!


There were beautiful trees up and down Main Street, and we tried to stop in the shade as much as possible. Here is James saying "Tree!!!"


Here he is looking all grown up and breaking his mother's heart. He prefers to wear his cap this way and I think it is adorable.


Here is James and Chris waiting at the train station for the "Lucky Lady" to roll in. I don't think James really knew what was about to happen at this point . . .


Hey kid, smile why don'tcha?


Ok, here he is hearing the train start to come into the station. OMG look at that face!!!


At this point his eyes got SO BIG and he wanted to run towards the train.


"Choo choo!!!"


What do you think is going on in his head? Ok, he's been playing with his trains and train table every day since Christmas . . . is it sinking in that he is actually on one?


Here's our little family enjoying the ride . . .


He loved it so much and cried like crazy when we got off. The next morning we rode it a bunch of times and so he was able to get his fill of train rides.

Here is is at dinner Saturday night, deliriously happy and tired.


Did I say tired?? (Yup, still has the binky, or "ginky" as he calls it!)


Krispy Kreme's for breakfast the next morning. He asks for "donuts" every day!!


Just a note--if you ever decide to stay in Laughlin, give us a call and we'll let you know the inside story, which is that other than the train, the place is pretty much a DUMP. Oh well! Live and learn!! It was worth the skanky hotel room and the nasty, stomach-churning buffet to see the look on our boy's face the first time he saw that train!!