Scattered Thoughts . . .

Throughout various points over the course of our train show weekend, I shot a few video clips in different places while everyone was doing different things.  Naturally, I included a few short clips from the train show itself...  a few minutes of Maggie the Clown's show...  a couple of short video clips of the pool at the hotel...  and, a few short clips from The Munich Haus German restaurant.   Lukey was lucky enough to be chosen to be part of Maggie and Clown's magic act.  He spent a few minutes on stage with Maggie and another child from the audience.  Naturally, Papa shot video of the whole thing so that Lukey could view the video any time he wants while visiting us.  Unfortunately, when we arrived home and I transferred the photos and video clips to my desktop computer, I immediately noticed that I screwed up the entire video of Lukey being on stage!  I wasn't paying attention to the camera as I watched Lukey and I paid the price... all the video of Lukey on stage was

Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then made our way over to the train show.  Breakfast was delicious!  If we had a Cracker Barrel nearby in Vermont, I'm sure I would gain twenty pounds due to all the 1950's-style breakfasts we would add to our life!  Naturally, I had to order the sampler plate for breakfast so I could get a taste of everything again.  It was delicious, as always...  especially those fried apples! We sneaked in to the show from the backside which allowed us to avoid virtually all of the traffic jams of cars trying to get into the show.  We found this route from the backside of town by accident one year (the one time getting lost turned out to be a positive thing) and it turned out to be a very happy accident. So now, every year we sneak in from the back side and by-pass the long line of cars waiting to get into the Big E.  We typically arrive before the doors open but we planned it well this year so there was no waiting out in the

The first thing the kids wanted to do when they arrived at the hotel was jump in the pool!  Mom and John had to check them into their room first though.  I was sitting in the lobby lounge area and had a chance to re-introduce Lukey and Kenzie to the rest of our train show group...  particularly to Jake and Dylan.  While everyone was swimming in the pool, I secured the two big tables in the lounge area so we could all relax with a few drinks and dinner.  After a short swim session, everyone congregated in the lounge area for our first night of the extended weekend... On Saturday, after the train show, we had time to squeeze in some pool time before needing to head to dinner.  Personally, I could have used a short nap but I wanted to capture a few shots of the kids in the pool so I fought with my eyelid actuators and managed to keep my eyes open (partly open but open enough) so I could shoot some photos in the pool house... The kids def

Late last night, I realized that I hadn't shared any photos of the train show yet so I went looking for all the photos I shot while we were in Springfield back in January. It just so happens that I shot a lot of photos this year and I even shot quite a bit of video! For now, I'll share a bunch of photos. When I have some time, I'll put together a few different videos by topic.   Even though we are at a show inside buildings and spread out over eight acres, Sheila always manages to find a bit of sunshine at the show... We ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel every morning... I'd eat there far too often if we had one near home! This early in the morning, we were often seated opposite the big stone fireplace... At the Big-E, making our way from the car to the show... Waiting in line for the doors to open... we arrived a bit too early on one of the mornings... fortunately, it was unseasonably warm this particular weekend... Sheila wanted photo