Whittle Valley Shortline Train Store

We visited this fun little train store in Valley Park this week. We met up with our friend, Luke and the boys enjoyed a little train play and a little puzzle play. Tyson was the one who really got into it, though. I think he could have played all day.

 The store is located in the Old Frisco Hotel Building, built in 1880.  It is located across from train tracks and was built to house railroaders who were passing through laying tracks. Later it became a commercial hotel. It has a lot of character!

 Here is Logan playing with his friend Luke. They are always on the move, so difficult to get a picture of them.

 The biggest train table in the store has space for kids to play on the outside of the table or to crawl under and play on the inside of the table.

 Of course, my little book worm found the book basket. He also found a sunny spot to read!

It is free to play at the store, but they do have a place for donations. After seeing their BADLY beaten up book basket, I was thinking we might just bring books to donate to the book basket on our next visit ;) Seriously we could not find a book that wasn't ripped or missing half the pages. At least they are well loved.
I hope we can go visit this cozy play spot again soon.

E is for Eckert's

On Monday, we took a trip to Eckert's Family Fun Farm in Millstadt. Generally admission is $10 per person but on Mondays it is free. Granted, the rides and the entertainment are closed, but it was perfect for the boys. There was still plenty for them to do and I'm pretty sure Tyson couldn't have ridden the rides anyway. The best part was that it was empty. We had the run of the place. There were probably only 10 to 15 cars there when we left. (When we arrived there were about 5 cars!)
We rode the wagon out to the apple orchard. (This was actually on the return trip, they never would look at the camera... too many distractions).

Tyson ate three apples while we were there. Now that we're home, he could care less about the apples.

Logan picked apples and carried the bag.

I let Logan buy taffy hence the green thing in his mouth.

 Since the shows were closed, the boys did their own shows on all the stages.

 They played on the playground area.

 And got dirty in the hay and the sandboxes.

 They even drove "tractors"... well John Deere tricycles.

 Most of the tricycles didn't really work but since they were the only ones riding, they could try out all of them!

 Both boys loved feeding the animals. Logan liked this antelope. It was very gentle.

 This little guy was not so gentle. However, he wasn't as tough as the big horned sheep that rammed Tyson's hand into the metal fence. His little hand was stuck between a horn and the metal. It was so red when he pulled back, poor boy.We didn't buy any food for that mean sheep. (or goat or whatever it was-- we didn't take its picture either).

 They loved all of the little houses.

 And they had fun in the corn maze too. I was a little worried about getting lost in there so we didn't go too far.

 Logan did this giant underground slide. Tyson would have loved to try but I didn't let him.

 We had such an amazing day and we' ll probably do it this way every year until the boys get a little older and can handle the crowds. Next year, we may go every Monday!