"choo choo and mer mer": hana at almost 21 months

last weekend we decided to take a trip up to tilden park in the berkeley hills and visit the steam trains. not to be confused with the train at the zoo that we've been to many times, the steam trains are actually miniature trains that run on steam power. also unlike the zoo, the steam trains are only open on the weekends and it's a little further from the house, so we have only been there once before. but this seemed like the perfect day to go since it was hot, and our non-air conditioned house can get as warm as the exterior weather outside, making it like a dry heat sauna. since the berkeley hills can be a little cooler, we ran for the hills.
hana insisted her "gyasses" would be the perfect compliment for her sundress.

the first time around on the steam train, we all sat together. hana was excited but seemingly pensive as she took it all in. she's been to the steam trains once before but she was only 17 months old then... just a baby (ha!). it seems like a lifetime ago.

sitting in daddy's lap... on our subsequent rides, she sat on the bench by herself, like a big girl.

the trains are run and maintained by train enthusiatists who volunteer to maintain them and run them on the weekends. it's a nominal fee to ride and it's usually not so crowded that you can't just ride time after time, as it was on the saturday that we were there.

the train winds its way through the verdant scenary of tilden park. the trains have been there for a long time (over 50 years?) so the trains themselves are absent any noticeable safety features like seat belts and sides to keep you from falling out. when i sit in the train, my knees are level with the sides of the train! they just don't make'em like they used to...

here's the engineer tooting the horn...

part of the trip takes our train over this trestle, which you can see is not very high. the trestle covers a path you can take to even smaller working live minature trains. they were under construction so you can't ride them now but apparantly, you can go on those too... anyway, hana loved the train so much i'm convinced that she dreamt about it the next couple of nights. you see, hana's not really a morning person, so she generally sleeps until 7:00 or 7:30 a.m., and even when she awakens, she's pretty mellow. she usually just waits in her crib, talking to herself, until we come in to get her ready. but for the next couple of mornings she was up before 6:00 a.m., and through the monitor, you could hear whining "mommys [she still on the plurals kick]choo choo... mommys i want go cars... go cars uh uh choo choo!" i think we are entering a train period.

all blissed out from the train, hana was not looking forward to getting back in the hot car. but we wanted to drive down the road a couple of minutes and visit the merry go round. she's been on the one at the zoo, but this one is supposed to a historical landmark (i think it was built in 1929). she was unhappy for the next few minutes until she got her first glimpse of the building where the merry-go-round was housed. and then she exclaimed "wooooooh wook it"...more oohs and aahs ensued. then a bell rang and hana went "uh oh mommys". when i assured her it was just the merry-go-round getting started, she made this face you see above and went "ooooooh mer mer". a love affair was born.

all three of us went on the first trip. with daddy on board, i got to ride on my own horse. this mer mer's no joke! it picks up a good amount of speed for a merry go round and i actually had a little wind in my hair...

hana getting strapped in for ride 2 of 7... jon did not accompany us on the final 6 rides, choosing solid ground to spinning platform.

"woooooooh wook it" ... "horsie mer mer"

this one's blurry but i like it because you can really see the joy in her face. she loved waving to daddy on every lap.

it's been 8 days since we went to the steam train and the merry-go-round, but hana still talks about wanting to go to the "choo choo" and the "mer mer" several times a day, even standing at the front door wondering why we are getting ready to "go bye bye cars mer mer" (get in the car and take me to the merry-go-round).

good times...

in other news, hana's gotten some new fall clothes since most of her 2T clothes look ridiculous on her. here, she's showing off her new "boofwys shirt" a.k.a. butterflies shirt. she thinks daddy's shoes go well with this ensemble... but she can't seem to decide which pair she wants.

and here's you see the lego indoctrination... you may all be aware that jon is a lego maniac... so it's no surprise that hana is totally into "bwoks". since jon has put his real legos away in the garage because they're still too small, he's had to settle for these.