Trains & Great Wolf Lodge

Trains, trains, TRAINS!

Anyone who knows my dad knows that his affinity for trains has been a lifelong thing. The Drenn Lodge, as I've affectionately always named their home up north, now has a train display where there once was a loft lounge, and they are launching a full scale village to go along with it.

dixie union station! 

Today we met with them at a specialty train shop, where Dad was able to gather ideas for his vision [& let's be honest, Mom too, as she'll be the real civil engineer here..].

Be it the small shop it was, it was certainly packed with all things trains, and quite a bit of history if you looked closely enough.

dixie train station | mason, oh 

dixie train station | mason, oh 

tiiiiiny little people..
... tiiiiiiny little expensive people. 

syd marvelling at the village

cute little houses!

so much detail! 

I had to include these, because I often forget just how Italian my mother really is.. until I see pictures like this. She may or may not have been speaking actual words; she's a seasoned Italian-hand signer.. haha.  

We wrapped up at the train shop once Dad and Mom were armed with material, ideas and determination to get their own village up to speed, and we were off. Sydni had done an exceptional job of being patient for the hour or so that we were in the train shop, despite our frequent instructing of DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.

Her reward?

a day at gwl! 

Syd went bananas when we stepped foot into Great Wolf Lodge; she knew that although we weren't going to the water park itself, we were going to be there for a while, and the day was now all about Magic Quests, arcade games and ice cream.

And fun :)

welllll hi there! 

these two.... hahaha

Day outings with Nana & Pappy are the BEST. 

We bid adieu [for now] after a long day of trains and play, and headed back home, where the day for Sydni wasn't over yet. We had one more belated Christmas present for her from Nana & Pappy: 

We've read this book three times already tonight; it's super cute.

What an awesome day, amiright?! :D

Love.. love... and more love.
See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd