The Amtrak and Papawā€™s Boat (6/11/2010 ā€“ 6/13/2010)

[mightymulhern]

Having survived the wedding the prior weekend with a very happy Sydney, we decided to take another trip to visit my parents and grandma the very next weekend. We had been talking about taking the Amtrak which stops in Carlinville for awhile and figured there was no time like the present. Our thinking was that it would enable Sydney to run around a little and not have to spend 4-1/2hrs strapped into a car seat. The extra hassle and cost would likely be worth the convenience of not having to drive.

The trip started out early Friday morning as we left to catch the 7:50 train out of Mount Prospect. We need to take a commuter train downtown to catch the Amtrak.

Previously Meghan had scoped out a car wash that allowed overnight parking so we had a good place to leave our car. That’s another story but the upshot was that these people really didn’t care whether our car was there or not or when we paid (before or after). The whole thing was so informal that we were a little relieved when we got home and the car was still there. …anyway, I digress.

Standing on the platform waiting for the Metra, Sydney happily sat in her stroller eating donut holes. We watched one train zoom by and before long the platform was full of people. That same morning was a parade downtown for the Chicago Blackhawks who had just won the Stanley Cup. As a result we had the typical mob of commuters in addition to a mob of Blackhawk fans in addition to the three of us.

The mob made getting onto the train a little more challenging. Meghan was carrying Sydney, an umbrella stroller, and a shoulder bag. I was carrying a roller bag with a car seat bungee-corded to it and I think wearing Meghan’s backpack. Further complicating matters, only one door of the train car we were entering opened. Meghan and Sydney made it onto the train first. I got squeezed out by the mob all of which completely disregarded that we were together. Sydney seemed less than comfortable with the large number of people surrounding her. I managed to get on a few people back (because I butted in carrying my awkward bag/carseat monstrosity). Conveniently, we all got a seat together eliminating the potential drama of sitting apart.

Sydney was very happy on the train and was her typical silly self. She was very good and even drew a compliment from one commuter who in a very monotone voice said, “Your daughter is very well behaved” before turning and exiting the train. We waited for everyone else to get off before trying to drag all our stuff off the train. Once we were off we then sought out handicapped doors and elevators in order to get down to street level. Travel with Sydney always adds another dimension of complication.

Once outside we had to walk to the other train station (Union Station) which is about 3 blocks down the street from Ogilvie Transportation center where the Metra let us out. The streets were full of Blackhawk fans. Sydney sat happily in her stroller taking it all in as we walked. I was dragging our roller bag with the car seat strapped to it and a shoulder bag riding in the car seat. At one point during the walk, I hit a crack in the pavement and it literally took the bags out of my hand. I’m glad I wasn’t pulling Sydney.

Once inside Union station, it was the drill of figuring out where we needed to go with Sydney in tow. It actually wasn’t bad at all except that we encountered a huge line at the bathroom. I think Sydney needed a diaper and ladies room was less than accommodating. After they went, I took a pit stop of my own but neglected to explain to Sydney what I was doing. As I entered the restroom I heard Sydney scream. Apparently she thought I was ditching her because that led to some crying. Later Meghan went to get a bottle of water leaving Sydney with me and there was some whimpering but we avoided a second incident.

Once the bathroom and water retrieval sagas were over, we waiting in a long line that appeared to be the one we wanted. After some waiting, they announced that families could board, and we got ushered to the front of the line. That would have been great except for while walking through the door to the platform, an Amtrak person noticed that Sydney wasn’t strapped into her car seat and was afraid she might get jostled out due to some bumps on the platform. As a result we had to hold up the whole line to get her strapped in. Then Meghan misplaced her ticket (She put it in the car seat when strapping in Sydney). Chaos Chaos Chaos, two people dragging a (well behaved) toddler through the station with luggage. Before long though, we were on the train, seated, and ready to go. At that point the train was due to depart in 5 minutes and there was still a long line of people waiting to board. Needless to say we were going to be late.

During the ride, we played with play dough. We played with stickers. We played with pipe cleaners. Then we played with the play dough some more. The big fun however was running around in the area behind our seats near the entrance of the car. We had picked the first row of seats and the luggage area was directly behind us. Between the luggage cabinet and our seats was an area 6-8ft long and the width of the train which Sydney claimed for herself. Meghan and I took turns corralling Sydney, keeping her out of everyone else’s way, and tried to keep her up right as the train jostled her around.

Eventually we made our way to the snack car, bought two turkey sandwiches for ourselves, and a cracker & cheese tray for Sydney. Syd was getting fussy so Meghan took the cracker tray and went to sit down. That rattled the guy selling us the food (His reaction was akin to “oh my god! She walked away with the food before I could ring it up!”). I reminded him what she had and explained that Sydney was getting cranky. Then it was ok. We didn’t last long in the snack car because it sported the bumpiest/jerkiest ride of the train. Sitting in there too long would make the strongest stomach motion sick. Syd at about half a cracker, drank some milk, and was done.

After returning to our seats, it was nap time and we had to figure out how to accomplish that. We tried with Sydney sitting on Meghan’s lap. We tried with Sydney in my seat. We tried with Sydney laying across both laps. Slowly the whining increased as Sydney shifted from one would be sleep location to the next. She also kept trying to lay down in the aisle in the middle of the train which obviously wasn’t going to work. Eventually she laid down on the floor at our feet and dozed off. We covered her with Meghan’s sweat shirt, and she slept for an hour which was just enough to get her though the day.

The stops went by one by one and we finally got to Carlinville about 40 minutes late. Mom picked us up and soon we were on our way to Litchfield.

Once at Nana and Papaw’s Sydney ran around and had a good old time. She quickly migrated back to Cassie’s play house in the computer room. Later, Jenny and Cassie came over to play. Cassie and Sydney were very cute together. At one point Cassie was holding Sydney’s hand and leading her around the house. Syd happily followed for a long time before needing some independence.

Eventually we decided to go take a ride on Papaw’s new boat. Nana and Papaw bought Sydney a little pink life jacket which was very cute. We put her in it and took her down the hoist to the lake (The “hoist” is effectively a little rail car hooked up to a winch at the top of the hill.) I don’t think Meghan gave her a chance to protest (during our last visit Sydney was afraid of the hoist). I carried Sydney out onto the dock and the uneasy whining started immediately. I tried to reassure her. Then we got on the boat and the whining started again. We had a little talk where I explained that we were all getting on the boat and that it was going to be fun. I explained that she was safe and nothing would hurt her. I explained that even if she somehow fell off the boat, her life jacket would make her float and keep her head out of the water. Amazingly the little talk resonated with her and she stopped whining. She did however grit her teeth, bite her upper lip, and hold a concerned facial expression for the first half of the outing. Sydney was very cute in her life jacket and migrated back and forth between Meghan and my mom. Her neck was just long enough for her head to clear the vest. Sitting down she really couldn’t turn her head, but she didn’t complain. She seemed to have fun.

For dinner that night, Sydney ate an “uncrustable” which was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without any crust and the edges nipped together. She was a big fan. She also had some animal crackers.

Later we had Cassie and Sydney each sitting on a bar stool at my parent’s bar in the kitchen. It was a very cute sight.

Friday night, getting Sydney into bed was a real challenge. Meghan went downstairs with her and there was a lot of crying. Later I went down and found both of them sacked out in our bed. Apparently we were all sleeping together that night. By morning, Sydney had rotated 90 degrees and was pressing her head into my back and her feet into Meghan. That left Meghan and I each clinging to opposite edges of the bed. We all slept though.

Saturday morning we went upstairs to get breakfast (we were the first ones up). We tried sitting at the bar but Sydney was afraid of Grandma’s oxygen machine that was running in the room. She was sitting on a bar stool at the breakfast bar and started whining any time I went to the other side of the kitchen to retrieve something. She also kept pointing at the machine across the room. After exhausting my efforts to explain that the machine was ok, we tried to go out on the porch. Unfortunately it was too buggy. Eventually we just went back to the basement, watched tv, and ate. Nana joined us down there not too long after.

At one point Nana pulled out a broom and started sweeping the basement. She gave Sydney a broom of her own and Sydney walked around using the broom as if it were a sponge mop trying to help.

Nana also pulled out my old M.U.S.C.L.E figurines which are these little plastic guys about the size of army men each with some bizarre thing going on. For instance, one has a volley ball as a head. Another is just a big hand with a face on the middle finger. Others have swords or shields for arms or hands. Sydney took them all out of the bag and played with them for awhile.

Once we were all upstairs, Sydney kept pointing down to the lake and saying “Wa Wa” which is Sydney-speak for “Water”. She also kept trying to say “Boat” which came out more like “Boad”. We asked, “Do you want to go back out on the boat?” to which she would respond, “Yeah!”. Alright, we’ll go out on the boat later this morning. We have to get ready first. Sydney would respond , “K”.

Later that morning, Jenny surprised us and came over with Cassie which meant the two kiddos could play again. With the day set to be extremely hot we decided to spend the morning on the boat before hiding in the house for the rest of the day. In preparation, Nana tied Cassie’s blankie bear to her and I tied Sydney’s had to the back of her life jacket. This was fortunate because the hat blew off her head several times.

Syd took to the boat faster on our second trip but by the time we got out on to it, she was already thinking about nap time. You could tell by watching her has we boated around in the heat that she was just about done for the morning. At one point she laid down on the boat and couldn’t get back up because of her life jacket.

After the boat ride, Syd took a nap. Later that afternoon we played in the living room and Sydney demonstrated her throwing ability, hurling the small plastic balls that go with the play house around the living room. It can be a little scary because sometimes she’ll walk right up to you and rare back as if to throw the ball at you. She’s got a pretty good arm.

Early in the visit she heard Papaw’s grandfather clock chiming and was very curious. We explained that it was a clock and she kept pointing and saying clock. Later Sydney wasn’t paying attention and bumped her head on this other wall clock my parents have that’s basically a large mirror. I said you hit your head on the clock. She just gave me a confused look and pointed over to the grandfather clock. I explained that there were two clocks and pointed to each. For the rest of our stay she made sure to point to each one, look at me, and say “clock”. Yes. There are 2 clocks.

Later in the day we got a massive thunderstorm with a huge amount of rain. The power went out and thunder boomed. Sydney sat for awhile in my lap looking out the sliding glass doors pointing at the rain. She kept giving me a concerned look, saying “Wah” and pointing at the deck. She was concerned that it was getting wet. I explained that it was ok. Sydney is always concerned about anything that is dirty or wet so watching the deck get wet had to drive her crazy. She really doesn’t like it when they mom up the classroom at school and leave the floor wet.

Saturday evening we attempted to go to The Maverick for dinner. Running on a short nap, Sydney was in beast mode and didn’t want Meghan or I either one to get out of her sight. She also wasn’t interested in eating anything other than vanilla wafers. At one point while negotiating with her to eat, Meghan got her eating the vanilla wafers. I noticed she only had one left and hopped up to get her more. I got about 15ft away from the table and heard a scream. Apparently having dad at an arms length was more important than the current vanilla wafer shortage. Tears streamed. Part way through the meal she also demonstrated her odd habit of sitting UNDER her high chair. Sometimes she just does that.

Later that evening my dad and I snuck off to do some fishing while Meghan attempted to give Sydney a bath. The bath toys were fun and exciting until Sydney actually had to get in the tub. For some reason she completely lost it once she hit the water.

Later Meghan, Grandma, and my mom sat on the deck with Sydney. Sydney was looking sleepy so my mom invited her to sit on her lap. A few minutes later, she zonked out – tired after a long day. That night, Sydney slept in her own bed and was fine.

Sunday morning we scurried around, got our stuff together, and headed to the train. My mom dropped us off and waiting with us in Carlinville while we waited for the train. Sydney ran around and enjoyed running in and out of the door of the depot. She also noticed her echo when she screamed in the depot. Thus, we got a lot of screaming. Then she started throwing rocks which she enjoys doing from time to time. Later while running around she fell and scraped up her leg. That only briefly delayed her fun. She was back at it again minutes later.

Once on the train, it was back to playing. This time around though, we didn’t have the big empty space behind our seats. There were also some other little kids in the seat in front of us so Sydney played some peek-a-boo with them (and them with her). Later we checked out the snack car only to find that they were out of milk. The lady there redirected us to the dining car which was a full sit down restaurant. I’m not sure why, but the waitress there just gave us a cup of milk. With milk in hand, we then went and sat in the lounge which has groups of seats sitting sideways in clumps so you could talk in groups and stare out the window.

We spent quite awhile in the lounge. I went back to the snack area and bought a soda and a package of nutter butters figuring Sydney would eat a few. She ate several and then started taking them apart and making a mess with the peanut butter. We put those away and let her run around a little. She was climbing everywhere and grinning at those passing by. A short while later we saw the Sydney serious face and knew that, you guessed it, she pooped. It was time for a diaper change on the train.

Shortly after the change, we headed back to our seats for nap time. Unlike the trip down, the floor on this car was not clean, someone had spilled a bunch of crumbs all over the floor. Sydney ended up sleeping wedged between Meghan and I in a semi-reclined position. Again though, the noise and jostling limited her nap to an hour.

When we got to Chicago, we were relieved to find that we were on time. We were about 15-20 minutes late when the train arrived in Carlinville, but it made up the time somewhere. That was good because it meant we wouldn’t miss our connecting Metra train. Missing it would have meant waiting 2hrs more for the next train.

When we arrived at train station number two, we went up the escalator without thinking about it. I was carrying Sydney. Sydney however was thinking about it and started whining when we got on the thing. It occurred to me then that she may not have ever been on an escalator. Our train wasn’t even boarding yet so I took that moment to teach her something. Once at the top, we walked around to the side and watched other people come up. I explained it to her. Then we rode the escalator again, this time with her standing (I helped her on and off). After that Meghan and Sydney rode the escalator together. Sydney would have been content to spend the next hour riding up and down if we had let her.

Finally our train was ready to go and the ride was uneventful. …actually uneventful for us. We had the three of us and all our stuff wedged into 2 bench seats that were facing each other. Sydney did some climbing around and yelled a few times which had to be really shrill for the person in the adjoining seat. We kept shooshing her but that doesn’t really work for long.

One surprising thing that happened was that Sydney ate part of my turkey sandwich with pepperjack cheese on the train. I pulled it out and she reached for it so I gave her a piece. She ate it quickly enough that she probably didn’t even taste it.

As we neared our station, we noticed that it was raining outside and were sure we were going to get soaked between the train and the car. Sydney doesn’t like rain so we put her wind breaker on her, put her hood up, and explained that she was going to get wet but that it would be ok. We would dry her off and get dry clothes as soon as we got home. She responded with one of her meek little, “K’s”. To our surprise, we all stayed dry. We had just missed the rain.

At long last we made it home which ended what had become a 7-1/2hr trip (it’s 4-1/2 to drive). We were all exhausted and glad to be home after such a long day.