thanks to an endorsement from her best pal jack, violet took a trip to travel town this past weekend, and it was a hit. we're fortunate to live about five minutes away from the sprawling griffith park, but so far, violet has only visited once many months ago -- of course to the trails, a cafe where i picked up coffee before a quick "hike" with her in the bjorn. we made it about 1/5 of the way to the observatory before i chickened out.
travel town is a great family place -- large grassy areas, picnic tables, a play area and an actual miniature train ride -- but in my opinion the coolest part is that you can explore actual train cars. there's a kind of train graveyard feel as you go from empty car to empty car, stomping for echoes.
i told violet she had to pick which side of the tracks she wanted to be on, but she was undecided about whether she'll be a molly ringwald in the breakfast club or pretty in pink.
after stomping through a bunch of train cars, violet took her enthusiasm to the metal walkways over the tracks. this was almost the most fun of the day.
travel town entry is free, but what parent can resist the heartstring pull of her kid watching the other kids play with their trains? violet's first thomas? $12.99. violet's joy as she hung with the boys? $12.99. i mean, priceless. priceless!
after watching the "real" choo-choo train circle the park a few times, violet was more than eager to ride. she was surprisingly patient as we waited for all the kids to board and the conductor to start the engine, but she was excited nonetheless. it was really sweet actually.
i thought the train ride would be the highlight for sure, even after all of the stomping and thomas, but i was wrong.
look at that face! when we were coming back from our beach walk in san diego, violet was literally squirming out of my arms, desperate to get to the many benches we passed. "she loves benches!" i said to my sister, who thought that statement was hilarious and absurd. but man, this kid loves benches!
the fun continued saturday night, when kevin and i took her to the wrong side of the burbank tracks -- the media center -- and let her loose on a mall playplace. watching her run and climb with the big kids (many of them exceeding the height limit, despite the friendly reminder of the mall cop, whose warning was unheeded by many of the parents, grumble grumble) made me once again acutely aware of just how tiny she is. tiny and fearless, it's kind of remarkable.
and then we made our first of presumably hundreds of family trips to islands. forgive my phone's inability to realize that it needs a flash in a dim restaurant environment, but here is violet with her first taste of endless fries.
on second thought, i think the blurry image is rather fitting, as the fries are, in fact, pretty dreamy.
Stacey, Violet is seriously the most adorable little girl. I love the picture of the two of you! I also can't get enough of her smile while sitting on the bench. And Simon can't wait to play trains with her. He got really excited about the train table picture - I figure that Violet could probably take him if he made a power grab for her train.
ReplyDeleteEndless fries! Clearly jack and violet are meant to be buds. And jack visited the mall play area today and was befriended by like 5 older kids. It was adorable! They were so excited to crawl with the baby. We'll have to go together soon. :)
ReplyDeletethat smile she's sporting on the bench, i'm afraid, showcases an underbite that i see in my own toddler pictures, which i fear means i'll be turning the tiny key of her palate expander in the future!
ReplyDeleteand i fear that v could take simon if he went for her train. as jack can attest, she's a shover. also she bit me pretty hard on the neck last night for the first time. i've got a vampire mark, no lie! sigh.