I’d read about the train, that It only came once at night right before bedtime and once in the morning. Okay, we thought, that sounded reasonable. Everything else checked out. So when we heard a rumble in the distance as we were settling in for the night we thought, hey, that’s alright. Not too bad.

The rumble was only the beginning.  Then there was the rattle that started slight with a mischevious joker grin. Blinds began rattling, cups on their hooks were rattling, teeth were rattling. And those kids that had gone to sleep?  Rattled.

Everybody was waking up just in time to say thier last prayers confident three engines and 84 coal cars were coming directly for them.

We kept thinking it couldn’t possibly get any louder, it couldn’t be any longer.  However, it always exceeded our expectations. I say always because, we later learned it was a common occurance.  Not just before bed and in the morning but all throughout the night and day.

We tried arming ourselves with squishy orange ear plugs for night number 2 (has that picture been mysteriously deleted by fashion conscious tweens?). They helped in the same way a cotton ball could sop up a swimming pool. We were planning to stay three weeks but had only paid for one (thank heavens!) and left when our week was up. The site itself had many endearing qualities that we enjoyed, but… sleep! We needed sleep!

A few things we enjoyed there were:

Playing pool and arcades, having a place to mail things to as we prepared for the school year and Swimming in the chilly pool.

The “Beach Park” with sand and a zipline. I loved watching Dave play with the kids under the monkey bar dome digging tunnels and roads. I loved Jack and Simon and Max teaching me the art of making a tunnel by burring my feet then carefully pulling them out and then digging a little on the other side to connect the hole. Ollie loved the zip line and forgave it for dumping him on his back. Burton loved it also and was glad that it wasn’t broken for good.  He was also glad that he didn’t have to pay the $100.00 that Ollie convinced him o.

A nature trail close by.  One night we took the kids to show them the trail and it got dark faster than we thought it would.  Using our phone flashlights and laughing our way back to the car, someone once again spotted a frog. But this was a pretty big frog.  Watch the video for that adventure- then wash your hands!

Adventures from our day-trips to Yorktown, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg etc will be in different posts. This is a behind the scenes peek at home-life on the road.  Ready or not, adventure is out there!