...while none of my children uttered the statement in the title, they would have last Saturday had they thought of it.
Last Saturday afternoon, the whole family took a little roadtrip down to Fenton, MO to the Whittle Shortline Railroad Station. Now, you almost can't get to Fenton from our house, although it's not far from where I work. However, I see it becoming a semi-regular trip that me and the boys might make for some “quality family time.”
Anyway, the Whittle Shortline Railroad Station is pretty slick, although by outside appearances, it's a little sketchy. Inside, it's literally made for kids. A HUGE train table is center stage with smaller tables that flank it. Every conceivable train, car, accessory, building, etc is on that table. Conviently, the same products are at Mom-and-Dad level to enhance the purchasing process for Junior's latest request.
Truth is, it's cool. They have their own brand of toys along side the other common brands (BRIO, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc). They have tracks and connectors and kits so you can configure your best, coolest and biggest track in your own home. I have to say, I was getting into looking at the pieces to see how it would make my job (building tracks) easier and cooler.
The boys (both ours and other people's) were totally entranced by the place. They would run and crawl from inside the middle of the train table to the furthest points where the buildling they were interested in was located. That is, they were entranced until a REAL train came by. That sent the children running from the table to the large drugstore-type front windows to watch and listen as a diesel train (as pointed out by a child) chugged by. To which, the children returned to the table to play with some other toy that they just HAD to have. Man...this place LIVES the business owner's motto of “Location, location, location.”
It's a neat place. Our reconnisance mission was sucessful. We wanted to check the place out before our oldest has his birthday party there. I'm confident he and his friends will be totally stoked for the party.
Later.