Picnic at Transportation Museum

Saturday was a rare day where we had nothing planned. The NC Transportation Museum was having an aviation event with special planes, hot air balloons, and temporary train exhibits. I talked Jesse into driving the 45 minutes and paying $32 for our family admission. The skies were overcast, but the forecast said no rain until late afternoon. The forecast was wrong!

The farther north we drove, the more it began to rain. All exhibits are either outside or require lots of walking outdoors. We ended up turning around and visiting Jesse's parents for an hour until the rain faded to a mist. (This worked out well since they live in that direction and we were hoping to visit them anyway.)

Since the weather wasn't especially great and it was later in the day than we had planned, we decided against purchasing tickets. This meant we couldn't go on a train or see the planes or hot air balloons. However, there were still plenty of trains to see for free. I took a lot of pictures of James because he is the train lover of the family.

The kids were too distracted to eat at first, but we finally settled down for our picnic lunch.

There were some train exhibits on display that aren't usually there, so that was an unexpected free feature. One of the carts had model trains and a simulator where you could drive the train.

Another train had cotton, huge rolls of fabric, and large scales for measuring.

There was another cart that's interior was closed but you could walk around the outside.

If nothing else, it was a cool change of scenery to walk beside so many trains.

We had to keep James moving along. I don't know how long he would have stayed if we let him.

I zoomed in for the picture above because I could not stop laughing at the oldest males in the family. Clearly they were ready to move along!

Jesse took Jackson to the bathroom while I was supposed to take the trio back to the van. The train you can ride in drove by, and James kept pointing and walking in the opposite direction towards the train.

Amelia was the least impressed with the trains. Maddie seemed content, though I suspect she would have been happier if it was warmer and less wet. 

The boys were clearly tired, as evidenced by them falling asleep immediately. They looked exactly alike when Jesse and I glanced back at them.

We had a productive afternoon mowing the lawn and grocery shopping, then concluded our Saturday with dinner, a bonfire, and s'mores.

Our day had some unnecessary driving and a bit of rain, but it was just the right amount of family, adventure, and housework.