Santa & Smiles

Teddy loves trains. Teddy loves Santa. Teddy loves the Santa train we have done the last 3 years. We snag extra brochures, so he can talk about it all year long (because his way of talking usually destroys a brochure after a few days of incessantly showing it to everyone). 

This day trip is always a highlight of our holiday season. It's perfect for our family because it's a bit low-key, not usually jam packed and ends up being a bit more sensory friendly for us. The hour-long train ride includes carolers, official ticket punching and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with a treat from their elf helpers. 

Teddy loves the jingle bells of the carolers. And the fact that most of them are teenage girls.

Teddy is drawn to Santa, and he invited Santa to sit next to him. He was also trying his darndest to convince the elf to squeeze into the foot of space between him and Santa, but AJ took one for the team and squished in there. I felt this Santa was extra attentive to Teddy this year, giving him (and AJ) plenty of time before moving down the train.

Teddy was still trying to convince the elf to join him.

AJ had prepared Teddy's talker for him, so Teddy had several buttons he could use to engage with Santa. He told Santa what he wanted for Christmas (twice to make sure he heard him) and told Santa his name, along with sharing that he loves trains. This was the first time Teddy used his talker to talk directly to Santa and, candidly, his first time using his talker in public. 

It had snowed quite a bit the night before, which made the train ride beautiful. It's one of the traditions we have that aligns with many other family traditions. The only difference is our children our older, but Teddy will enjoy the magic of Santa for years and years to come. 

Train Time

When you live in Wisconsin, you look forward to signs of spring. Whether it's early tulips and daffodils poking through the cold ground, the grass slowly turning green or the warmer days, they're all harbingers of spring. Teddy's favorite sign of spring, though, is the start of train rides at the National Railroad Museum. 

We're fortunate to live within an hour of this incredible train museum. Like our membership at EAA, one day I hope to go and actually read all the exhibits, but for now I get to enjoy bits and pieces, whatever I can read in the moments that Teddy stays in one place. Usually, though, he's on the go exploring all the trains. This museum is fantastic because so much of the exhibits are a "yes," not a "no" for Teddy. What I mean by this is that you're allowed to climb inside and walk through more of the displays than not, which is exactly what Teddy wants. 

I mean, really, it's not enough to just see a train. You have to walk through it, sit in it and, of course, try to drive the engines! That's how you experience the full joy!

One of the great things with a membership is that we can visit for 20 minutes if Teddy isn't feeling it (usually never the case) or as long as we want. A membership means a quick visit is just as worth it as a long visit when you're not paying an individual fee for entrance only to have a tough day and have to leave early. 

The best part of the membership, though, is the train rides that are included! There's a 20-minute or so train ride every 2 hours during the warmer months. A perfectly time visit starts with a train ride, followed by exploring all the trains and exhibits, capped off with a second train ride. (We might be the only family to double up on train rides, but I doubt it.)

Train rides are one of the best things!

This past weekend was the NFL draft, hosted in Green Bay. This meant the population of the city was more than doubled in size to host this event, which made people shy away from the city if they weren't there for the draft. It also meant the train museum ran train rides on the hour.

So we drove the hour north, hedging our bets that traffic wouldn't be a nightmare and that parking at the museum wouldn't be too bad. And we struck gold. Since so many people didn't venture out, the museum was remarkably quiet. In fact, we had the first train ride as a private train ride, during which Teddy befriended the conductor and made him sit right next to him. It was a great experience, fantastic to hear this kind volunteer who trains all other conductors take interest in Teddy and share how they are dementia certified and work to make it a great experience for all people. We got to witness this in action on the second train ride of the day when another child who plays in Teddy's baseball league was really excited and then agitated and sharing that with vocalizations. The conductor simply paused in his tour when necessary and picked right back up, never judging or making the experience anything less for anyone ... well, except maybe Teddy who still thought the conductor should sit right by him again. 

Teddy and his new best friend, all smiles!

Merry Christmas Eve

There's something nostalgic about trains at Christmas time. Whether it's the somewhat more recent Polar Express or the idea of a train around the Christmas tree, trains simply go with Santa. This year one of our gifts for Teddy was to head to the Mid-Continent Railroad in North Freedom, WI for the Santa Train. We did this in early December, and it was the perfect family adventure.

Teddy was so excited about this trip. Though he can't talk, he told everyone who came to our house about the train ride by showing them the brochure and pointing specifically to the Santa picture. This was for a couple months leading up to the adventure as we had the brochure on the fridge. 

The trip didn't disappoint for him, as he was so excited when we pulled into the train station. The only disappointment for him was that the museum had hardly any train cars you could climb on to explore, unlike the one we visited in Duluth earlier this summer. He thought he should be able to explore every car, even trying to sneak onto a few because that cord across the stairs is clearly not meant for him. 

The train ride itself was pretty darn perfect for us - about 1.5 hours with enough going on to keep Teddy mostly in his seat. As a parent, I appreciated that all that was advertised was a quick visit by Santa, so everything beyond that was a pleasant surprise. Santa started in our train car and made his way with Mrs. Claus to take pictures with every family and have a quick chat. Of course, Teddy invited them to sit down by him. 

All smiles for Santa and Mrs. Claus.

After Santa moved along, we heard a reading of T'was the Night Before Christmas and got little stockings with a few treats for the boys. Oh, we also got a rubber duck dressed as a conductor that Teddy thought was pretty cool. 

Showing off his rubber ducky.

The train only went a short distance down the line before it turns around, so we didn't cover a lot of ground, but it was very scenic. On the way back, just as Teddy was getting a bit squirrely, we had a group of high school students come into our train car to sing carols. Teddy thought that was the best to have a group of pretty girls (with a few guys, too) standing right by him, smiling and singing to him. His absolute favorite was Jingle Bells because he got bells to play through the song.

It was a truly wonderful experience, something we all could enjoy. Afterward we checked out a candy store on the way to our second main destination, Buffalo Phil's, a restaurant in Wisconsin Dells. We had wanted to check this place out for a few years due to two features: food delivered by trains and all the Lego displays. Let's just say neither disappointed for AJ, especially the entire Star Wars Lego room with nearly all the Lego Star Wars in existence. However, Teddy was freaked out.

Now, to be fair, eating in a restaurant with Teddy is usually a quick affair as he has no willingness to sit still for any amount of time, wants to socialize with others, etc. Sometimes he's just in a mood, slithering out of the booth and seeming to intentionally create chaos. This time, though, was different. Something he saw or experienced in the restaurant freaked him out, whether it was all the life-size characters or who knows what exactly. But after our drinks came and he went for a walk because he was a bit antsy and there was a lot to see, we could barely get him back in the booth. In fact, he and I stood by the booth just waiting to have our food come to put it in to-go boxes for him and Dave because all he wanted was to go back to the car. 

This type of thing is happening a bit more, where he gets genuinely freaked out and needs to leave someplace because it's simply too much for him. While it's frustrating to not be able to enjoy a restaurant we thought was about as close to a sure thing for our family as would exist (with the trains), it's understandable when it's truly fear versus just being sassy, so to speak. I wish we could figure out, though, what triggers these moments of freaking out to better navigate them.

Regardless, it was a fantastic family day and definitely something to repeat! We'll just skip that restaurant next time.