Potty For a Train Ride in Virginia City

As an incentive to go "potty on the toilet" we bribed TnT with a train ride up in VC. It was talked about for weeks & held a lot anticipation in our home. The trouble with twins (& of course these guys who do NOTHING alike) is that one got the concept almost right away & the other was too stubborn to agree to even "try" if anyone other than himself suggested it. However, the twin thing did come in handy when it created a little competition. I think that aspect may take them far in this life. Anyway, we set up potty charts (and a reading chart for Kendra, as to not leave her out of the incentive plan) & soon they were filled & feeling comfortable on the toilet, so we had to hold up our end of the deal.

The morning of was so hard, as we had to wait for Daddy to get done with summer school at noon. The waiting was torture on all, so we passed some time by making a map to Virgina City. Everyone helped & it took a good 30 minutes. Whoo hoo!

We finally made it to V.C. had some lunch, made a potty stop & boarded the train. We took the first seats available, which happened to be right next to an official, old time train robber. He was great! Travis was intrigued with his hat & vest. He was a real character to look at & listen to. When I asked him if he was hot, being as it was well over 90* that day & he was covered from head to toe in heavy clothing. He explained he was cooler than when he wore a T-shirt & how in those days (the gold mining days of VC) they covered themselves from the sun. If you showed your skin or had a tan, you were considered a lower level class, like a farmer or something. He likened it to wearing a coat in the winter, it keeps the cold off you as well as the heat. Well I don't know about all of that, I'll just take his word for it. I was very happy in my shorts & flip flops in all that heat.

A little while into the ride, while still in character, he gave me a fair warning that there was going to be a shoot out & a train robbery. Sure enough they put on quite a little show. It was fun & no one seemed to be bothered by the gunfire. When it was over he gave Travis & Trevor an empty bullet shell. They haven't wanted to let go of it since.

On the way back to the station I was talking to him & he was telling me about how he had been around trains his whole life, growing up in Verdi & all. I commented that my husbands Grandparents lived there for years & he asked their name. I only had to say Verley Frey (in fact I'm not sure I had even said her whole name) when he instantly said "O FRED FREY!?! Oh yeah I knew him, he came to my grandfathers garage all the time." Of course the conversation went on from there & was quite interesting. All in all we had a great time.

To finish the day we took some of the $ we are saving on diapers & let the kids pick out some candy at the Chocolate Factory. The look on their faces when they walked into a room the size of our house FILLED with candy, was priceless!!!!! I wished I hadn't left the camera in the car!