An Oliver, Daddy & Mommy adventure

A month or so ago, my favorite Mom's group Metroplex Baby & Kids published a list called DFW on a Budget. All items on the list cost $5/person or less; boy is this a great resource! The All Aboard category had several trains, some of which we had never heard. I've wanted to take Oliver over to Ft. Worth to ride the Forest Park Miniature Train ever since I read about it, but with being so close to the end of my pregnancy, I didn't want to chance a drive over there during the week by ourselves. So this morning, we all got ready and headed out on a surprise adventure.

Oliver was so excited when we left the house. I told him we were going on a surprise adventure when he first awoke, and he could barely stand not knowing where we were going. At one point I thought he might even cry, but all turned out well.

He had lots of guesses of where we might go. This video we are talking about going...just see how excited he is.

Here we are approaching the train depot. This is the first moment Oliver knew we were going on a train.

All aboard, and tickets please. All the right things were said and here are Oliver & Daddy ready for the train to go.

Here we are all happy to set out on our adventure.

The train has started and Oliver is in heaven!

The train is this tiny little open air thing that actually gets up some speed and so there was a nice breeze flowing through. The tracks run along the Trinity River away from the main road through a nicely forested area. It crosses six bridges and crosses under even more. We saw a ton of freight trains and Oliver nicknamed Ft. Worth Train Central. It was beautiful and the ride was so peaceful! We had a fantastic time!

On Saturdays, the Forest Park Miniature Railroad operates two trains. Here is the other train as we passed it. All aboard!

After you go to the end of the track, you turn around and stop at the second depot where you can purchase a snack: Popcorn and drinks for only $1 each. Oh, and did I mention the fare is totally reasonable? Only $3 for adults and $2.50 for children 1-12. A 40 minute ride with popcorn and a drink for only $10.50, sign me up! :)

Yumm, popcorn!

Oliver & the train engineer after our ride.

I think this is the sweetest picture I have taken in a long time. I love seeing these two snuggling, but secretly I wish it was with me! I totally miss holding my lil' guy! But I must follow doctor's orders, I certainly don't want this baby coming too early.

In Clayton's mind, a trip to Ft. Worth = barbecue. So we tried out Angelo's, a really old, well reviewed barbecue restaurant. This is really a meat joint. So Oliver ate potato chips, a piece of bread and M&M's. Talk about healthy! My sliced beef sandwich was pretty good, but the sides were kind of lacking in my opinion. Oh, and they had stuffed and mounted trophys all over the dining room. Kind of makes you feel like your food is watching you eat. Good thing there weren't any cows! :)