Tag Archives: Carousel

Storybook Day at Edaville Railroad

Storybook Day at Edaville Railroad
Photo-A-Day #1619

Today Allison and I took Eva to Edaville Railroad. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

Last night Eva would not go to bed at the Cape House. She completely refused from 7:00pm – 9:00pm. Finally after Allison and I took turns with her trying to read stories and to get her to calm down she succumbed to the sleep she needed. Well, for few hours at least. She was back up at 3:30am screaming and crying. Allison brought her to our room and Eva wanted me out of the bed. So to get some sleep I ended up on the Goldilocks bed which contrary to popular belief was not “just right”.

We awakened worn and weary but eager for our trip to Edaville. We didn’t have Grandfather’s fabulous breakfast on hand so we went to Betsy’s Diner. We texted up our friends Neil and Andrea and asked if they were up and also up for Betsy’s. Neil, a man who knows breakfast, said “Be there or Be Square”. So, we knew they were on their way.

Breakfast was awesome and we are very grateful to Neil and Andrea for sharing that meal with us and taking us out. Also we are extremely grateful that they are friends in our lives. Their support and generosity is greatly appreciated.

After breakfast it was off to Edaville. Edaville Railroad is a small theme park in Carver, MA. The main theme is around trains and it also has some vintage rides. There is a beautiful carousel and a Ferris wheel (Eva’s too small for that and I really wanted to go up with her because she loves rides and speed, I bet she likes heights too).

Loving the Carousel

There are plenty of ride there for the little ones. I think when kids are real little say between 2 and 5 they love trains. It doesn’t hurt that Thomas the Tank Engine is such a PR giant. At Edaville they have a Day out With Thomas every once in a while where they have a small replica of Thomas come and pull the train around the track which goes through the working cranberry bogs.

Harvesting Cranberries

The really nice thing about Edaville is how it is very geared to the little ones, the rides the interactive areas and of course the train ride that comes along every 20 minutes. Eva enjoyed riding along on the train looking at everything out in the woods and in the cranberry bogs along the way. Edaville really shines at night in the winter though. That is when the train chugs along and there are lighted figures out in the woods and along the whole route. There is even a giant Noah’s Ark scene.

The reason that we went to Edaville today was for the storybook characters that would be appearing. On tap were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Wild Thing, Clifford the Big Red Dog and the monkey Eva really wanted to see, Curious George. Every 15 minutes the characters would come out 2 at a time for a meet and greet where kids and parents could pose. When we got there The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Wild Thing were just going back in and Curious George and Clifford were coming out. We got in line to see Clifford and Curious George.

A very Stuffed Caterpillar

I went over to the snack bar to get Allison a water and that is where I met Tilden of Tilden Talks.

I mentioned that we were going to Edaville and Tilden’s sister-in-law Quilly left me a message letting me know that Tilden not only worked at Edaville and was the best cook there but she was also a member of my IZEA Insiders crew the “I’m Not A Famous Blogger” Crew. So I was there at the counter and a woman comes into the snack bar. I catch her name and I ask. “Are you on SocialSpark?” She looks at me for a moment and then smiles “Are you Ben? What are you doing here?” We chat for a bit and I explain that we were here for the storybook show and that the last time I was there I was 4. Things have changed a lot since then. I will have to see about finding some photos from when I was a kid.

We had a wonderful day at the park and then headed home for a memorial mass for Grandma Theresa. I think that Fr. Dave’s homily hit both Allison and I right where we needed and I’m grateful for that. Eva was in rare form at Mass. She was up and down and entertaining the people behind us. Of course Allison and I are mortified, exhausted both physically and emotionally. So we are trying to wrangle this little jitterbug and not doing that good a job of it. So we are kneeling and Fr. Dave is consecrating the host, as he lifts it to the air Eva lets out a “Yumm!” That broke the tension and Allison and I were fighting the inappropriate giggles. This means that the two of us were shaking and laughing hysterically while trying to hide the fact that we were shaking and laughing hysterically. I tell you, that kid has comic timing.

My 7th Company Picnic

Riding at the Picnic
Photo-A-Day #1591

I’ve been at my job for almost 8 years. September 19th 2001 was when I started. The company is 40 years old this year and each year they have a company picnic. Allison and I have gone to every one since 2002 (I was hired too late for the 2001 picnic). Each year I’ve seen this get bigger and better. The way things are done gets more and more innovative and feedback from participants is taken into consideration. We have a great time.

This year was probably the best one so far. Allison and I did not bicker much even though it was so brutally hot. I had a moment of utter frustration when my Nikon D80 decided to give me the CAH warning and not take my 16GB memory card for some reason. I was heading off to the car to just put it away and spend the rest of the day using the Canon SD800is. Then I realized that the Canon had a memory card in it so I swapped cards and all was right with the world.

Loving the Carousel


Our morning started off with our usual routine. We parked directly across from the Fried Dough station (must’ve been kismet). So, we got some fried dough and I got popcorn and then I went to get drinks and picked up a bowl of clam chowder. Yeah, that was breakfast and it was awesome. I must tell you that my gastrointestinal debauchery today is my one day a year to do this. I got back to the table and Eva was getting antsy because there were tons of rides and she wanted to do them all. She wasn’t interested in Fried Dough so we walked down to the fruit station and got her an apple. She picked a granny smith and when we got back she decided that that wasn’t what she really wanted.

Petting the Goats

After eating we went to the giant slide and Eva and I went down twice in a row and she loved it! I was a little nervous taking her on this because in my mind I kept thinking of all the ways we could get hurt. So the first ride down I was a wreck but the second one I loosened up and had a great time. I sat on the potato sack and them placed Eva right in front of me. She loved the speed. The kid loves the feel of the wind in her hair. When we slid down I would lift her up onto her feet and she would make a beeline back to the stairs to go again. I love that she loves to have fun and play these games and it is so fun watching how happy she is. Allison shot a video of that on the Flip.

working on getting that uploaded.

Eva’s next favorite ride was the cars. She was so happy and proud going around in the car on her first trip. She was so happy and I wanted to capture the moment with my camera and it wasn’t working. This is when I got frustrated with the camera and almost had a meltdown of my own. Eva was using the steering wheel and smiling and just enjoying the speed of the ride. She went on this one at least three maybe 4 times. We passed over the rocket ships at first run through the rides. I wasn’t sure if she’d sit still and that one went up and down. So we held off.

Riding the Horses

Eva’s old favorite was the carousel of course. She went on once with Allison and that carousel went around fast. Allison was done. No more rides. So we went over and got Eva a company badge, made a set of color your own binoculars. Eva’s first time with markers. Not to shabby.

Loving the Cars

Eventually we made our way to the puppet show and Allison and Eva could sit in the shade. I went off and got some water because we were drinking a bottle of it every 20 – 30 minutes or so. I was a drenched mess. I think I sweat nearly as much as I usually do during a workout. Well, despite being a soggy mess I still had a great time.

I've got em in my sights

We ate tons of food, had tons of fun and Eva got to ride a pony, pet a goat and go on a pirate ship. And between that she was a space ace on a rocket ship and rode the carousel until the world spun. I can’t wait for next year’s picnic!