Aboard the Skunk Train

This winter I finally packed up and moved the massive Thomas the Tank Engine collection to the basement. The boys only occasionally played with their trains, and they didn't even miss them... I did. It is an end of an era, my little boys weren't preschoolers anymore, and were no longer interested in preschool toys. Alas in the age of Beyblades and Lego Ninjago, trains are for babies.

On the first full day on the Mendocino coast it was supposed to rain. With miserable weather ahead we thought, how fun it would be to ride the Skunk Train. And don't get me wrong, it was fun. The Skunk Train runs through the redwoods from Fort Bragg toward Willits. During the summer you can ride a classic steam engine. In the Winter/Spring your engine is a good old fashioned diesel train.

The train has been following the Redwood Route since 1885. Originally to reach logging encampments, the modern version is for tourists.

But, for our boys the magic is gone. The wonder and amazement and pure joy of all things trains is gone. In its place mild enjoyment and curiosity.

The Skunk Train is quite a time investment. Our train left at 10 am and returned four hours later.  The first half of the ride the boys were great. They listened to the conductor's stories, lead Jonathan to the outside train to view the 1,000 year old redwood trees, and happily looked outside the window.

We then had lunch as the train was turned around to be sent back to Fort Bragg. After lunch the boys were no longer interested in the train. Caleb managed to make friends with other kids who were a little bored of the train ride too. They looked out the window, told jokes and shared secrets.

Xander didn't have as much success, so he played video games on Jonathan's phone. I asked the boys if they liked the Skunk Train, and the answer was a resounding "yes, but..." But for them, once is plenty for the foreseeable future. I don't think we would have had the same response from three and four year old Xander and Caleb. I guess Jonathan and I will let our membership at the California Railroad Museum elapse. Sigh...

Spring Break on the Mendocino Coast

I don't remember getting this much time off when I was a kid. In February we have ski week around the President's Day holiday, and in April we have Spring Break. Ski week for us is in Florida visiting the grandparents ... and Spring Break always puts us at a loss for what to do, since we can only take about two days off work, the kids are in Y Camp for the other three days. It needs to be a compact Holiday with minimal travel time (under four hours) and maximum fun. Last year we spent a few days in Monterey, and this year we headed to the Mendocino coast.

April is still considered off season on the beautiful coast. With the boys we opted to stay in Fort Bragg, more pedestrian than upscale Mendocino. Fort Bragg also is where you can catch the Skunk train, and close to a bunch of coastal parks.

If we could do it over again, we would have selected a different hotel. The rooms at the Holiday Inn Express are small, and it doesn't have balconies. So on our rainy first day (actually thunder, lightening, torrential rains and hale) we felt cooped up. With four of us, we should have sprung for a low end suite at a property with balconies. We'll keep that in mind on our next visit.

In fact after the boys acted up at dinner on our first night -- they were more uncontrollably silly than anything else, 5 year old Caleb turns to me and says in a very grown up voice, "Mom, of course we are acting silly. We haven't had any kid time, and we need an outlet."

Hmmm ... I wonder where he heard that before? Keeping that in mind we found plenty of free play activities for the boys. And the weather was fantastic the rest of the long weekend. Our itinerary included:

Friday - 10 am - 2 pm ride the Skunk Train; 2:30 pm visit the Botanical Gardens (there is an adventure trail for the kids which includes a fort), 4 pm visited a Light House -- did I mention we were feeling cooped up after Thursday's storms.
Saturday - Tide pools (we went to two separate beaches, at the first the tide pools were closed because of the baby seals) and Mendocino Headlands
Sunday - Travel home with a stop for a hike in the Redwoods.

The trip was amazing. The boys can't wait to go back! They loved it. Over the next few weeks I'll blog about our specific excursions. The Mendocino coast is definitely a great destination for both adults and children.

The pianist - The first piano recital

One of life's big regrets is that I never mastered a musical instrument. Growing up as a military brat, we moved around a lot. In the pivotal learning to play the flute year, we moved mid-school year from New York to California.  My new class in California was much further along than my previous school, and although I sat in for the rest of the school year,  I never caught up. And as it is with many kids, I moved on and lost interest during that year.

In my 20s I studied guitar, but it wasn't the same. So with regret breeds ... piano lessons for my kids. I have heard the horror stories of kids (especially who grew up in the 40s and 50s ...) being forced into piano lessons. Understanding that is really not a good thing, in January Xander started piano lessons with no coersion.

Proud Mamma bragging time -- Xander was born with two inherent loves. One is water. From his first bath he has been in love with being wet, splashing around and water, and the other is music. As a baby we hummed Tchaikovsy to him to calm him down, his first concert was an opera, and his first favorite toy as a toddler was his rainbow piano. He also has great focus and beautiful long fingers, and a ear for music. He was born to play piano.

In January Xander started piano lessons. At the behest of his piano teacher we waited until he was six and half, but we knew that he would love it. Every Friday Jonathan takes Xander to his lesson, and he practices piano 10 to 30 minutes a night -- no pressure.

So after a whopping four months of lessons on Sunday Xander had his first recital. It was great. His teacher likes to do recitals because it is a forcing function to help her students rise to the occasion. It is always good to have a goal. Xander did great playing both Yankee Doodle and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Remember Billy Joel and Beethovan were once beginners. Still I'm not sure he is bound for Julliard yet. But I think we are fostering a love of music that will serve him well in life, no regrets.