To my friends at the Upstate Model Railroaders,

So, I have litterally 1/3 of the house space that I used to have up in NY.  Having a full layout is out of the question for me.  Granted I have a large N-Trak group in my area, I find that I miss the social aspect of the club.  I really do miss my “home” layout up in Glens Falls, NY.

While we’ve been here I’ve tried to contact the Severna Park club, which is one of the top layouts in the country apparently.  Sadly, I don’t think they care to invite new people to the group.  They’ve been covered in the Model Railroading magazine a couple of times in the past (take a look).  Too bad I don’t think I’ll see it until thier open house in December.

Another amazing layout we found was at a local mall.  A couple of churches convinced the Marly Station Mall to give them a good sized room by one of the entrances all year round.  Starting 6 months before Christmas, the churches of many different denominations get together and start building a brand new layout from scratch!  The substructure might be the same, but the rest is all brand new each season.  Essentially, they had 5 layouts this past season.  2 smaller units and one extra large piece with multiple levels and automated equipment that kids cycled on and off from the sidelines.  Everything they ran was O-scale.

We have made our way to DC a couple of times.  I prefer to park at the very edge of the city and take the rails in to town.  Coal trains often go running by as you travers above ground during the first part of the run.  You also get to see the maintenance yards along the way on the east side of the orange line.

Lastly, we’ve also made it up to the B&O Museum up in Baltimore.  Too bad the place is surrounded by so many bad neighborhoods.  But in the facility, things are wonderful.  Whether its steam or diesel, they have your flavor of history.  It includes a short, but historically rich train ride in the local neighborhood.  When we visited, we were lucky enough to see a small G scale layout, a huge N-scale layout, and another layout of 2 separate track plans for a massive O-scale group:  all of which were modular.  Did I forget to mention the outdoor G-scale layout?  Wow!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Daddy (Mommy, & Johnny too)

Today Johnny woke up at about 6am.  Mommy eventually picked him up out of his crib, let him play, and started him on a banana & Cheerios  breakfast.  After  a nice memory recall on  Mommy’s  part,  we all decided to go to Einstein’s Bagels in  Severna Park, MD.

We arrived and found the restaurant to be quite busy.   We all had a nice carb heavy breakfast.  Johnny was more than happy to work over his Dutch Apple Bagel.  We all agreed that it was a superior bagel house compared to Panera.

Next we  went to Annapolis Mall.  We played at the children’s area, took a potty break, and got back to more play time in a chaotic frenzy of small children climbing over animals, boats, and slides.  We finally left after Johnny tried 1 to many times to escape.  He may be quick, but not quick enough to escape Daddy:  yet!

Mommy needed to do some shopping so we went through J.C. Penny’s, Macy’s, and then finally NY & Company.  She needed a new outfit for a baby shower later in the day at 2 pm over at Kristin’s house.  Mommy picked up a real nice yellow shirt and highwaters.

During this time, Johnny hung out in the stroller patiently (for the most part) while Daddy took him through the stores, got him lunch at Subway (Juice Box, Ham and Wheat Bread only sandwhich, and raisins), and visited Border’s where Daddy bought a book and read a few for Johnny to enjoy.

When Mommy was finally done, Johnny went to sleep.  He stayed awake until 12:45pm!  Wow!  He was truly ready for a nap.  Daddy got him to pass out by giving him a binky.

When the family arrived at home, Mommy put Johnny in his crib and she then prepared herself for the shower.  Daddy unpacked all of the goods and laid down for a short nap.  Most of the nap time Daddy ended up watching a couple of episodes of Penn & Teller’s B.S. on Showtime.

Right after Mommy left, Johnny woke up.  With a few cries, Daddy picked him up and out of the crib.  He let Johnny run around until his saffron rice and chicken nuggets were ready, which didn’t take long since Daddy had a funny feeling Johnny would wake up soon so he started early on the food.

After Johnny was done eating, Daddy let Johnny watch an episode of Baby Einstein’s “Baby Neptune”.  Johnny loves the show;  Daddy loves it because he did some house cleaning and dishes.  It is also good as a distractor while Daddy put shoes, socks, and a coat on his little man.

After the video was over, Daddy & Johnny went to the playground behind Beekman Elementary School.  There Johnny went down the slide twice.  He then spent the rest of his time climbing up and down steps on the playground equipment.  He even tossed the a purple rubber ball back and forth with Daddy a couple of times.

Eventually, Mommy called and told Daddy that she was back home from the baby shower.  Daddy asked her to pick them up in front of the school.  When she arrived, Johnny was on his 4th attempt going over an embankment to walk out into traffic where all of the exciting cars were driving by at very fast speeds.  Funny boy!

Next, we convinced Mommy to go to Petsmart to get cat food for our kitties Chloe & Chester.  We also visited the fishies.  Once again Johnny was on the run again through out the store as much as he could get away with in front of Mommy & Daddy.

Finally, we came home and played some more.  We finished off with pasta for Johnny’s dinner.  We all helped Johnny take a bath where Johnny was video taped laughing as Daddy teased him with a toy.

To end the day, Daddy did the “Barnyard Dance” for Johnny.  Johnny was happy.

Today was special in a couple of ways for Johnny and his Daddy.

First, Johnny rode piggy back around the apartment.

Second, Johnny sang along with Daddy.  Daddy was singing the “Elmo” theme song and Johnny would follow a verse behind with “La-La-La-La” on the chorus.

You can’t buy moments like these!