First Train Ride

They gave me an extra seat on the train and it was so nice for her to sleep and play in. I even changed her in the seat because the bathroom was so gross.
Ashley got tired of her toys on the 3 1/2 hour train ride, so I was pulling everything out of my bag for her to play with. I had gotten some water in these plastic cups and she thought they were the neatest thing she'd every seen. She kept herself busy for about 1/2 hour banging them together and making noise.

With Brian's permission (I felt terrible, it was his first Father's Day) Ashley and I headed down to Portland on the train for the weekend. Brian was going to be studying all weekend, so it gave him uninterrupted time for that plus we were do for Grandma and Grandpa's monthly visit with Ashley. We left Seattle on Saturday morning at 7:30am and came back Monday at 4pm. The ride there was great. They gave me two seats so I could put her car seat next to me and she slept for the first hour. The rest of the time she was content playing in her seat with all her toys or standing in my lap. The dining car was great too because she could stand in the booth and talk to everyone walking by. She was a kick! The way back was a little more challenging because she didn't sleep and never got her afternoon nap. She was a little fussy, but it could have been a lot worse. She was still entertained by her toys, she would just get tired of them a lot faster. She crashed as we were coming into Seattle only to get woken up by all the commotion when we arrived. She went to bed about 5:30pm to make up for it. She was a tired girl! While we were in Portland we saw my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Al, had dinner with Dan, went for a long walk at a wildlife refuge near Sherwood, played on the swings, BBQ'd, got up early for the balloon festival and just hung out. It was a great trip as always and we miss them already.
This is the tent Grammy got for Ashley. We'll use it on the beach when we go camping next month.

Here we are at the Tigard Ballon Festival at 6am. We just rolled out of bed, threw our clothes, put on a hat and headed out the door. My Dad and I had done this a few years ago, but my mom had never been. It's really cool to see these huge balloons get blown up and take off. It was worth getting up that early.
They have a race in the balloons where each one has to hit targets and the first one done wins. I've always thought it would be a great gift idea to take someone on a balloon ride.
Ashley loved the swings. She hangs there kicking her arms and legs while she's swinging. You can tell she wants to tell us how much fun she's having, but she can't gather her excitement to say anything.
Grandpa loved playing with Ashley this weekend, they spent a lot of time together and it melted my heart to see it. I love to witness how happy she makes her Grammy and Grandpa.