A fun-filled weekend!

We went to Livy and Reece's birthday party this past weekend at the YMCA gym. There were dozens of children under the age of five, balloons, mats, balls, tunnels, trampolines, a pit filled with foam cubes, cake and ice cream! In other words- the perfect toddler afternoon ;)

As soon as we walked into the gym- it was obvious Kieran remembered his time at Flipz this summer and what this gym was for- running! He was off like a flash- checking out every nook and cranny at the speed of toddler!

A giant yellow ball...

A loooooong trampoline...

A little trampoline with "slide"...

Plenty of space to RUN!

A giant crayon- perfect for pushing around like a train...

Tunnels...

Scooters...

And of course cake and ice cream!

Oh- and don't forget the juice-boxes- another special treat!

The birthday girls with their HUGE cupcakes!

Kieran inspected the two cakes- Abby Ca-Dabby and Elmo (he actually got his little fingers in the Elmo cake a little bit- but it turned out okay ;) We ended up leaving a little early- the combination of running like a maniac for an hour + and lots of sugar made for a bit of a wild child- and when it came time to watch other children open gifts, with none for him ;) Kieran just couldn't keep it together. He passed out on the way home with only cake and ice cream for his dinner ;)

Waiting on a train... Sunday we took Kiearn's first train ride on Amtrak to Hermann for their annual  Christmas festival.

Kieran was very excited just to be in the train station where, "Sir Toppem Hat works."

Posing on an old bench in the station.

"Whooo-whoooo!" The train's here!

"Alllllll aaaaabooooaaard!"

I just wish I had gotten this picture from the other side- I am sure he had a great expression as he boarded his first train!

Love this look of awe and amazement as the train pulls out from the station.

"A ductor!!" (Conductor) Kieran was so excited to see a real-live conductors punching tickets and saying things like "all aboard" and "next stop"... he was bursting at the seams with little boy joy!

Kieran spent a lot of time playing with his ticket on our ride- here he had discovered how he could make it stick to his lips.

Enjoying a little train-treat...

Kieran was pretty impressed with the old fashioned German Santa- especially since he gave him candy ;)

Down town Hermann is right off the train stop- which was perfect for us. We just hung out all day- checking out some shops, eating and spending a lot of time playing outside- thankfully it was 50+ that day, so we didn't get too cold. Here Kieran is playing his egg shaker with a string trio that was performing in the Festhalle, the center of the holiday activities.

We also saw a lady playing an accordion at the Children's Museum who did a great rendition of Frosty the Snowman that really got Kiearn's little feet stomping!

Watching a freight train go by... we saw a lot of very big trains very close up, which was great for our little conductor :)

Kieran entertained himself most of the day with things he found- giant leaves, rocks, sticks... who needs toys?!

In a thrift store we visited Kieran came across this little gem- an old-school Fischer Price doll house, complete with dolls! He played with this for a half hour or more.

We brought Kieran's jammies for the train ride home- which he thought was great! It worked out well too, because he wasn't in the car five minutes before he was sound asleep- made for a very easy transfer into bed ;)