We tried something different and fun this year...Aunt Mallory and Uncle Mat had a Groupon to visit the East Haven Trolley Museum, where they were doing a special event for the holidays!
A real olde Tyme trolley pulled up, and we all got to get on it! We had perfect timing, as we got our tickets right as the next one was leaving. I hadn't seen hot chocolate yet, but was told that there was hot chocolate on the premises.
Onboard the trolley, we all got comfy, and got ready to enjoy the trip back in time through the woods of East Haven Connecticut. The tracks were embedded in the road, and the wire ran overhead, just like they did back in the day. The back of the seats slid forward and back so you could face the way the trolley was moving which was really cool.
The trolley was decorated for the holidays, which was really nice (but no hot chocolate yet)
And featured not only ads from yesteryear...
...but a conductor that was literally plucked from the past! Look at this guy! He was amazing!
We had some time to be silly on the trolley as we drove back to the little winter wonderland that they had set up for us...
When we got to the other side of the trolley yard, we saw that all the trolleys that they had were decorated for the holidays, both outside...
...and inside!
This little penguin guy was great! He welcome us to one of the trolleys...
...which was filled with an amazing train set! (But no hot chocolate)
There were three trains running on several tracks, and of course one had a Thomas engine at the front!
There was even a pre-determined place where the train was designed to take a break at a station, which was really cool to watch!
Ha! Finally! Jackpot! Not only was there hot chocolate, but there was cookies too! Score!!
We ended up at the final train that had Santa waiting for us.
He and I had a nice conversation before all the other kids found him, and I told him I wanted a robot that gave out cookies and said "Cookie Party! Cookie Party!" This toy doesn't exist or anything like that, I just figured that since it was something that seemed interesting to me in my brain (after I made it up) that I should be able to get one. Totally reasonable, right?
Santa was pretty sly in looking at the camera during a moment where I was both standing up and also standing relatively still.It was a nice visit!
Uncle Mat helped me drive one of the trolleys (or pretend to)
and Aunt Mallory and Gramma Mindy made a nice audience for when Monkey and I were feeling particularly silly.
It was finally time to hop on the trolley and ride it back into 2013...where we ended up at the museum part of the evening!
Mom and I looked at some different exhibits including one where you pulled a cord to simulate taking someone's fare for the trolley...it switched the big numbers in the display case!
And also turning a crank to generate electricity! A little lightbulb lit up...
...and a tiny trolley moved down the tracks...
We finished up the evening relaxing on the couch while I played some iPod games...it was truly a lovely little family outing. Thanks Aunt Mallory and Uncle Mat for taking us!
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