For the past two years, I've been trying to get David, my train loving son, to the pink pig train. Illness kept us away pretty much every other time we had the opportunity to go. But this was finally going to be the year! Nothing was going to stop us...or was it?
David and I arrived an hour late. It was pouring down rain that morning. It was a Tuesday so I kept David out of school and I was able to arrange for Grandma to watch Wesley (soo glad I had the foresight to do that). It also took me a while to figure out where I needed to go (I turned into Phipps first?!? Then I got lost inside Lenox mall...so not used to big city life). After we finally get to where we need to be, I try to buy train tickets only to find that Priscilla (that's the train's name) was "sick" and they had called the "vet" to fix her. They couldn't tell us how long it would take to fix her or even promise us she would be fixed that day! I was devastated! I knew David would be so disappointed if he didn't get to ride the train. We were hopeful that if we hung around long enough they might have time to fix her, so we headed off to get pictures with Santa and have lunch. Definitely shenanigans with seven kids! David didn't want his picture taken with Santa and I am pretty understanding about that since I was scared of him as a child and I have not had a single picture made with St. Nick. After lunch we checked on Priscilla but she was still not working. I couldn't believe my luck! Of all the days for this to happen!!! Have I mentioned it takes me around two hours to get there? Its not like I could just go home and try again another day. We were told she might be fixed within the hour though so we decided to stick it out. 
The kids were pretty entertained by a projection screen game on the floor. They would stomp and jump on all the moving objects. More time passed and we checked on the pink pig a third time. We were told it could possibly be another hour (they were beginning to sound like a broken record at this point). There was talk about leaving but we decided to wait it out just a little longer.
We changed the scenery with coffee for the adults and cookies for the kids which helped the time pass a little quicker. The kids were pretty much done at this point. We had been waiting about three hours. We decided to check one last time on the way out...
...and lo and behold she was working again! Whew! The tickets were two for one so the kids got to ride twice.
David held a firm grip on and of course wanted to save his ticket. We also bought a Christmas ornament that is replica of the train. He was so proud to show it to Grandma when we picked up Wesley and Daddy when we got home.
