Catching That Train.......Just.

We had some special plans organised for the day. I had booked 4 tickets for a leisurely ride on a steam train though the city and its surrounding suburbs. The train was leaving the station in the city at 11:40am this morning and we had to be there 30 minutes before to pick up our tickets. We had great intentions of arriving on time, even early. Half way into our journey to the city in our car I was starting to freak out a bit. It was looking like we may miss the train. I couldn't drive any faster because most of the journey was a 40 kilometre speed limit area around a continual construction site. I got every red light and every traffic jam and it was a Sunday morning. We arrived at the car park at 11:32am and then we ran. My husband had Bailey in his arms while I had Brandon. We ran about 5 kilometres with children in our arms in the city along a very busy road. It would have made for great entertainment if you were sitting in your car watching us. We arrived at Platform 3 at 11:43am and literally ran on to the train. I think the train had waited for us. At least I know that I can run 5 kms in 11 minutes with a child in my arms and my husband and a second child in tow. Not that I ever plan on doing that again!

The train ride was great. As soon as we settled into our seats, the 2 boys asked for food and proceeded to eat for the next 1 hour. Luckily I'd packed a fridge load of food. We saw lovely sites, big old Queenslanders, units almost built on top of the train lines, lots of winding rivers, and a plethora of people who'd stopped for us. We travelled through many a tunnel and passed over numerous bridges. It was spectacular. At the end of our journey we got to go into the front steam train engine. The 2 boys and I saw all the coal and the huge furnace. There was soot everywhere but it was fantastic. We took lots of pictures. From here we walked around the station for awhile checking it all out. The kids loved it and so did my husband and I.

After all our running we had developed quite an appetite. Even though the 2 boys had just eaten for the past 1 hour, they were still hungry. Not surprising. As we left the train station my husband and I laughed because running up the stairs of the station were 2 parents with a small child in each arm, running to catch a train. It felt like we had handed over the baton to them. The 4 of us walked several kilometres back into South Bank to grab some food. By now it was starting to get a little cool but then the sun emerged. Hooray! We gobbled up our food and drink and then headed over to the park. As this week is Queensland week, there were heaps and heaps of celebrations on beside the river. There were jugglers and many a street performer, markets galore and people galore. It was busy. We wound up our adventures for the day by visiting the Lolly shop at South Bank. It's a choose your own lolly collection shop so it feels limitless with the amount you can purchase. After we all gobbled up a good deal of sugar and were artificially re-energised, we headed back to our car. It took us nearly 1 hour to get home which was a long time to only travel 25 kilometres, but Bailey fell asleep and Brandon watched a DVD.

The evening was spent with the 2 boys eating and eating. I cooked them a yummy dinner and the 3 of us consumed what felt like kilos of strawberries. Pure deliciousness. My husband has just bathed both boys because I needed 10 minutes of escape time. We had a great day. Again the 2 boys have gone crazy, but everyone is happy. Hopefully the other family that we saw running for the train today made it on time for their train adventures. I am very glad that we did actually catch that train today, even if it was only just.