Train Show

We love to go to the Train Show at the New York Botanic Gardens. They hold it each year from just before Thanksgiving until right after New Years. Usually we go in December but since my parents were going to be here we thought we'd go just before Thanksgiving. I figured the day after would be a mob scene. It was a brilliant plan - we picked the kids up from school when their half day ended and headed right there. The place was deserted and we had ample time to walk around slowly enjoying the display sans crowds.

When Jacob was a toddler I'd go multiple times while the girls were in school, mid-week and it would be quiet and warm inside and he could wander all over the place and look at the trains. The sunny and warm Conservatory reminded me of those sweet days with him.

They call it the "train show" and the trains are cool - and what Jacob always wants to see - but the real attraction is the building replica's made from twigs, leaves, seeds and other things from the garden. I think a lot of what makes this so great for me is that so many of these buildings have played a part in our lives here and our memories ... the games we've been to at Yankee Stadium, the days we've spent exploring the Museum of Natural History, books we've read in the NY Public library, the times we've played in Central Park and passed the fountain - or the night Rick proposed to me there... I love this city and I love to see it represented so beautifully. They are simply amazing and my pictures won't do them justice but here they are anyway.

I think this was new this year, I don't remember it from last time. The replica of Macy's is just as impressive as all the other buildings.

Amazing.

 

Statue of Liberty.

Jacob has loved the train show ever since he was tiny and we had to carry him.
He really loves going each year. Such a cute boy!

Under the Brooklyn Bridge.

I'm not sure why the Little Red Lighthouse is placed here in the display - they have a George Washington Bridge and it would be much more accurate to put it under there.

The Little Red Lighthouse.
This story has been a favorite of ours since our Brooklyn days when Emily was a toddler.

New York Public Library.

One of my favorite NY buildings, we have a large print of it in our family room.

 Love, love the details and that every one is a replica of an actual building.

Emily & Grandpa.

 The planetarium at the Museum of Natural History - one of our favorite places to visit.

Yankee Stadium

 

One of the Brooklyn Bridge towers with it's beautiful Gothic arches.

Bethesda Fountain

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

The Guggenheim

 

Empire State Building, Chrysler Building (love), Rockefeller Center (complete with angels lining the walkway and a "big" tree), Radio City Music Hall, the Met Life Building and the New York Stock Exchange.

 

and with the people I love.

The Haupt Conservatory - where the Train Show is held.

Don't those flowers look fake?

The plants they have in there & growing all around the displays are so beautiful and vibrant.

I just realized I don't have any pictures of the trains. Ha. I guess you can tell what I am really there for. My kids do like watching them though & following them along the tracks as they go in and out of buildings, over the bridges and though the tunnels. They have two small one's that look like ladybugs that are their favorites and they always search for those first.

 After we see the trains the kids always want to head over to the Gingerbread Adventures. They plant wheat and grind spices and learn about which plants "become" gingerbread.

And there are lots of cool rocks to climb on and mazes to run through in the Children's Garden on the way over there.

And to wrap it all up they "decorate" a gingersnap.

We love this holiday tradition of ours and loved sharing it with Grandma & Grandpa.