Can you hear that whistle blowing!

Our grandson was very excited about his sixth birthday party.  Most of the excitement centered around the fact that is was going to be a surprise party-his very first one!  He, of course, was trying to get everyone and any one to spill the beans.  We all employed various fabrications to put him off.  I kept telling him that we were going to go to the county jail to share a lunch with some of the prisoners, so that he would appreciate the importance of being a good boy.  He was definitely not buying that.

In any case, as we pulled into the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga as a successful surprise to Aleister.  First there was lunch in the dining car "Greenville" which started service in 1950.

Next we had a quick tour of the engines and cars in the museum outside display.  Clearly, he continues to like large powerful equipment.

We then had to rush to take a ride on one of the museum's active trains.  We traveled to the repair and maintenance yard for a tour of the repair facilities and a demonstration of how the engine turntable works.  It is safe to say that he had a great time.  

Underway and making way

Underway and making way is a nautical term that means you are not secured to a fix structure and you are actually moving.  That describes our status nicely.  We traveled over 400 miles yesterday and made our first stop near Rome, GA to meet someone who may be related to me.  He became Facebook friends with Anneke because we share the same last name.  In all my travels I never met someone with my last name that was not related to me, so I was looking forward to comparing notes and seeing if we were indeed related.

We met at one of his favorite eateries and had a great conversation.  His sister has done extensive research on the family name genealogy and I have done some.  We soon discovered that we did indeed come from the same major branch of the tree.  We figured out that our great grandfathers were brothers.  We discussed many of our family traits and quirks and in general had a good time.  This encounter has inspired me to get back to the genealogy research I started after our visit to the Mormon Family Center in Salt Lake City, or I could just buy his sister's published book on the family history.

We then moved on to our mooch docking spot at our daughter's house for the weekend.  We luckily decided to leave on Thursday as it has been raining all day to day.  At least everything is very green here.

Tomorrow will be a surprise birthday party for our Grandson Aleister.

The time between trips

Even though we now live in a sticks and bricks, it often seems that I think of events as how they relate to our travels.  Thus between Anneke's return from The Netherlands and our trip north later this week, we have been rather busy.

 Our daughter Heather hosted a baby shower at our house which proved that our new home is great for entertaining. 

This year Easter included a well planned Easter party /egg hunt at Hurlburt Air Force Base for the small kids.  This was a lot of fun for the young and old alike.  Victoria was not that interested in getting the most eggs, but she enjoyed studying all the ones she did find.

Our daughter Gretchen from Georgia and grandson Aleister came down to help celebrate Anneke's birthday.  They also brought  a big surprise for Victoria.  Her first motorized vehicle.  Aleister is really into these and wanted Victoria to share his interest.  It did not take her very long  for her to be comfortable with it.  She jumped right in and had the thing figured out very quickly and was driving all over the place.  Of course, she did have a complete escort everywhere she went.

During the rest of the visit Aleister and Victoria got to know each other a little better and no really big fights broke out:)  We also took Aleister for a visit to the local privately owned zoo.  I think this was a big hit.

Finally we had a dinner for Anneke's birthday, which also marked the largest gathering for dinner we have had  so far in the new house.