His BIG FOUR Train Party

We celebrated Son1's birthday party at the Hawaiian Railway Society Ewa Station. (W is pronounced like a "v"...Eh-vah; that means west in Hawaiian.)

The train normally runs Sundays only, for the public. It runs weekdays for field trips and private birthdays. This past Friday was Statehood Day, a Hawaii state holiday. This day commemorates the 1959 anniversary of Hawaii's admission to the Union. Schools were closed, and some parents were off from work. Other parents kindly took the day off for the party.
Our little conductor was so excited to celebrate with his buddies and their families. We celebrated with friends from this year and last year's preschool classes, his Baby Hui friends, and friends from church. The party lined up outside of the train yard and waited for the engineer and crew to call a booming "ALL ABOARD"! The keiki guests sported cardboard conductor hats from the Hawaiian Railway Society.Our party filled two passenger cars, though the entire train with many more passenger cars chugged out of the station. Son1 decided our family would sit at the end of the caboose car. The passenger cars were once old military flatcars that were rebuilt by the Hawaiian Railway Society.The gorgeous weather was breezy, warm, and not too bright. It was still morning, though. The train was rather quiet, even with all of the children. They contently gazed at the scenery and the construction along the route. The construction workers and the cross traffic waved the Hawaiian shaka (hang loose sign, pinky and thumb extended), and the kids eagerly waved shakas back.Twenty five minutes after leaving the station, we stopped at the midway point, and played games. We sang the whole Hokey Pokey song, led by the train narrator. Then, our passenger car competed against the other passenger car to see who could shake their car the hardest by rocking, jumping, and shaking the cars. The train crew judged. We were slipping and sliding and rocking and rolling, but our car won! Finally, we switched sides so that we could have a different view on the way back to the station for the last 25 minutes. Those sitting facing the mauka (mountain) side rotated with the makai (ocean) side.

On Sundays the railroad crossing signals work. During the week, they are inoperative and a crew member jumps off the train with an orange flag to halt the cross traffic. That's what Mr. Lou did below. The train engineer repeatedly blew the train whistle as we chugged through cross traffic. All of the passengers waved shakas and the halted cross traffic waved shakas back. The caboose led the way back to the station, since we didn't switch tracks. We tried to hold 16 month old Son2 in our laps, but he scrambled away to sit with his brother. I love this picture.We lugged into the station, and I handed off Son2 to our babysitter, at the train yard. The last activity before lunch was too noisy for Son2. We were so grateful to our babysitter. She was a tremendous help to our family all day. While we were on the train she readied our lunch. All of the keiki followed Son1 off the train and past several passenger cars to the train engine. One by one they climbed into the engine of the train, stood on the engineer's seat, and pulled the rope that sounded the train whistle.The train engineer presented Son1 with a birthday certificate from the Hawaiian Railway Society.

The train engine is a 300 horsepower Whitcomb diesel electric train.

Son1 and his preschool teacher

Son1's preschool teacher suggested she take a picture of Hubby and me.

All the kids had their chance at the train whistle, before we congregated in the train yard. We kept the party simple, yet colorful. The tables were all decorated in Thomas colored tablecloths of red, blue, and yellow. We tied colored balloons to different train accessories on each table. Some tables were decorated with train sets, and others with station pieces.

The kids lunches were super easy. We packed an Uncrustable sandwich, string cheese, juice box and gummy bears with a Thomas napkin in each lunch sack. This worked so well! The parents loved,loved, loved this idea! While the kids were quickly served, the adults popped up and grabbed their lunch without distraction. They had grapes, a veggie tray, chips, dips, and salsa, roast beef croissants and tortilla wraps from Costco. You know I couldn't get away with sack lunches for adults! HA! The fabulous lunch sack idea came from Hubby. The cake was another Costco wonder. One of the children has a chocolate allergy, so we stuck to vanilla with strawberry mouse and buttercream frosting. The toppers were from a LEGO Thomas set with some tracks. Son1 requested balloons on his cake, so he had four balloon candles in addition to his number FOUR. Look closely. Can you see why folks think we're local?

Cake was served, but the kids invented their own game. We brought a couple of Thomas pop up tents. The kids played a game of Chinese Lion. You know, like the lion that is commonly used for the Chinese lion dance? They lifted and lowered, and lifted and lowered all over the yard. Ahhh so Hawaii!The party came to an end. Son1 handed goody bags to his friends, complete with small wooden train whistles. But we were wise enough to hand them whistles as they left!

When his teacher helped clean up after the party, Son1 asked for a purple balloon. I told her the story of last year's last day of preschool. Son1 accidentally let go of his purple balloon after the preschool party. Coincidentally we had been reading Where Do Balloons Go? about a little boy who let go of his purple balloon. I reminded him of the book when he lost his balloon that day. But he has never forgotten that balloon. He reminds me every time he sees a purple balloon that he wants that purple balloon back from the preschool party. We chuckled at the story and finished gathering our things. Just a few minutes later, we exited the train yard with the last of our belongings when his teacher looked up.

She said, "Look! It's your purple balloon! It came to find you for your birthday!" He was stunned. We were all taken back a bit.

The purple balloon is actually stuck in the trees above his head.

After a quiet rest time at home, Son1 opened his gifts from friends. I love that at almost every birthday party I have been to in Hawaii, gifts are not opened at the party. My local friend explained local people want the focus to be on the party and the guests and not on the gifts. This is the second year we have opened gifts privately. We love this idea, and plan to make this a family tradition, even on the Big Rock.

The party was over, but he wasn't four yet. I still had one more day with my three year old!