TRAINS!

Advent activity #8 was inspired by Dadoo. He loved trains and made many of his own models. We headed to North Park Mall today to see their massive toy train display. The exhibit features more than 40 vintage locomotives chugging along 2,500 feet of track on a magical journey across America. We saw the trains wind through captivating scenes and national landmarks including the Washington Monument, the White House, Golden Gate Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and more.

It was so emotionally overwhelming right when we walked in that I nearly cried. Dadoo would have gone "ga-ga" over this, as Cavett would say. Kendrick's excitement was probably just as much. I have never seen him so worked up! We stayed for a solid hour---just watching. I couldn't believe it. Toward the last 15 minutes, I kept asking Kendrick if he was ready to leave. His reply, "Nope!"

What was also an amazement to me was that the proceeds from the exhibit provide almost half of the $1.3 million operating budget for the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, raising more than $5 million over the ten years the exhibit has been at NorthPark Center. So we were happy to pay the addmission price to benefit those children and family with needs.