WELCOME

I'm a full-time wife and mom of two adorable boys. When I'm not busy trying to keep up with them I enjoy photography, traveling, planning parties and a little bit of reading.

In February of 2008 I was diagnosed with an incurable terminal lung illness, though God promised me a full and complete healing. While we wait for His timing, we're taking it one day at a time, and standing in awe of how God's using all of this for His glory. The tough road we've traveled has given us a new perspective on the fragility of life. Memories are more important to us than ever before. The goal of this blog is to share some of our family life - the ups and downs, the joys and probably some of the pains as well. It's mostly meant as a personal journal of sorts, but you're welcome to share in it. We'd like to take this opportunity to say ...

WELCOME TO THE FEITNER ADVENTURE!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Strasburg

Alex has had a love affair with trains for several years now. We took him on a (diesel) train ride during the summer a year ago. He absolutely loved it. But on Thomas and Friends, diesels are the "mean" trains, and the steam trains are the "good guys." So, when we knew we were going to move out of the area, visiting Strasburg was immediately put on the "to do before we move" list.

Yesterday (before my sister and nephew left to spend this next week at my mom's) the whole family went to Strasburg for a ride on a steam train.



We barely made it in time, and the rain (mixed with the rush) was really tough for me. But after sitting still on the train for several minutes, I was able to catch my breath again, and lower the pressures in my lungs (I should have brought the oxygen with me, but didn't want one more thing to carry). I finally was able to enjoy the ride.



Everyone had a great time, but Alex had the best time of all! I think the smile was plastered on his face for at least 20 minutes!






The kids are gonna talk about the ride for years to come! They were the perfect age for this sort of adventure - it was simply magical!

This was one of the last photos taken ... just before Harrison (who wanted to exert his independence) suddenly jerked away from Daddy. He lost his balance, and fell on his face - with his teeth going straight through his lip. OUCH! Needless to say there was lots of blood, but that's why we have a well-stocked diaper bag. We used an old burp-cloth to mop up until I could get out the wipes. We did learn, though that a binky makes a great "pressure bandage" - the more it hurt, the harder he sucked on it. Not a drop got on his clothes or on the train itself! Luckily (for the other passengers) he cried for less than a minute. We didn't get a picture of his swollen, black and blue lip (it's healing amazingly quickly!) He's such a brave little kiddo (with absolutely NO sense of self-preservation or fear!). And on the way home, when we all stopped at McDonald's for a treat, he even ate salty french fries!

Right after this next photo, Alex asked me if the words on the side of the coach car we rode said "Annie" or "Clarabel". (For those of you not versed in Thomas, those are his two coaches.) How cute!


2 comments:

adalong said...

Julia, You do a FANTASTIC job of documenting your families lives! Priceless!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful! My "big kid" (a.k.a. husband) loves trains, too. We just love Thomas for instilling this kind of enthusiasm for trains in kids.
Mary (from Hershey group)