But over the summer we picked up some fun light up FasTrack that we thought would be fun around the holidays, and I mentioned over Thanksgiving we got it set up. Now that I’ve had some time to sit down and take pictures I’d like to document what we came up with a bit better.

Starting point: Circa 2000 train set and transformer with classic Tubular Track, including the Lionel CTC Lockon.

Where we wanted to get to: Use our fancy new Lighted FasTrack!

The first, obvious, challenge was that my transformer didn’t connect to the track with a plug, it uses the CTC Lockon. How do I get power to this fancy track that has a plug hole? Fortunately, I explained my setup so when the local train shop sold us the Lighted FasTrack, they also sold us a FasTrack Accessory Power Wire (6-12053) which we’d need. Except that I didn’t have any idea how to use it. As I mentioned in my last post, this post on Reddit included enough photos for doing the same with some standard track.

But if you’re looking for something more direct and clear, here’s the photo of what I did:

Click to get full size image

As you can see, there’s a wire that extends from the plug, and I’ve unplugged that. In its place, I’ve attached my new FasTrack Accessory Power Wire. And that’s it! Time to find all those tiny screws and close it back up.

From there it was a matter of attaching the other end of my new accessory power wire to my transformer. The wires are exposed, so you can test them by touching them together, but you should secure them in some way. That’s when I grabbed my husband for some help because I knew he had a collection of wire couplers that could come in handy for this project. He attached some detachable couplers that could be used with either track type.

Now I just need to address the squeaky wheels.

Have something to add or share? Or did I get something wrong? Drop me an email: lyz@princessleia.com

The day after we got home, I grabbed tickets to Oakland Zoo Glowfari. The tickets for weekends tend to sell out quickly, and it’s busy, so I decided that we wouldn’t wait and would just grab a weeknight far enough before the December holidays that it wouldn’t be too crowded. So the boys and I went with Gaby, our new au pair Ana, and then their former au pair Rebeca joined us! It was a ton of fun, the structures are beautiful and there are a lot of them. The first area we explored was a future of Oakland-themed village which had all kinds of great Oakland landmarks, including the Tribune tower, the boot from Children’s Fairyland, and a Chabot Space & Science Center observatory.

Plus, they had a BART train you could go inside! And run inside, which the boys did, of course.

From there we walked through areas devoted to insects and African animals. Of particular interest to every kid there was a tile you could jump on to trigger a stink bug to spray “smoke” out of his rear end. Oh boy.

We then met up with Rebeca and got a bunch of great photos of the boys and three generations of au pairs. I’m really glad we were able to do that before Gaby went home! With Rebeca, we took the Gondola up to the California Trail to explore the ocean part of the Glowfari. Up there the bubbles filled with “smoke” were a big hit with the kids. They were pretty cool. We didn’t get to go on the Zoo train which gets you to even more light up goodies, but since just train tickets are required for that, I’m hoping that we can go with MJ some time in January to just do that.

I mentioned Gaby leaving, and that was a pretty big deal for all of us. She’s our first au pair to actually go home at the conclusion of her term (the first got married, the second stayed to go to school in the US). As a result, the boys still see their past au pairs! We’re really going to miss her. I think we got really lucky with our new au pair though, the boys immediately connected with her and she’s been great so far.

The following weekend we joined a bunch of other Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) fans at Rockridge station for Sweaterfest. It was a whole little celebration with BART crafts and other related pop-ups with little activities for kids and photo opportunities. At the end, they took a big group photo with us in our sweaters! MJ wore one from when we attended a couple years ago, Adam and I had matching BART sweaters from this year, and Aaron donned this season’s BART winter hat (no shirts in his size this year). We got to ride the BARTmobile (a hilarious train with tires that use used in parades and other events), and managed to get in the group photo.

Inside the BARTmobile!

We checked out the craft table briefly and the boys got to jump around inside a big inflatable winter bubble. It would have been nice to arrive earlier since things closed fairly promptly around 3PM, but we still had fun, and it was probably for the best that we didn’t go on such a long adventure, did I mention December was very busy?

The next day, we went to the Great Train Show, which was set up at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. This is also an event we’d gone to before, I think it was last summer? Last time, MJ realized he knows one of the folks who regularly attends with one of the model train clubs, as they used to work together, so he likes to use it as an opportunity to say hello.

Plus, it’s a great place to shop for model trains to expand our Hanukkah train layout! Sadly, the engine on ours wasn’t working well. In spite of buying it just five years ago and only taking it out for the winter holidays, think it was dropped a few too many times by small kids. We brought it to the train show to test it on their test track, and that’s where it completely failed. We tried to get a replacement engine, which is lovely! But will take some work to get it going with our equipment. Still, the fellow who sold us the engine also had a really cute Hanukkah box car that we bought along with it. And maybe I’ll see if I can get our other engine repaired.

The boys also got to check out a couple of retired maintenance cars that are kept running by members of the West Coast Railroaders Group. Some people have boats and sail over water. Some people buy old rail maintenance cars and ride down tracks through beautiful forests. MJ spent some time talking with them as the boys kept themselves occupied by sitting in the cars and playing with the controls.

It was a fun afternoon, but I was tired. I had developed a sinus infection that was being treated with antibiotics, but I think what I needed was rest, and not a weekend full of train adventures,. I was also prepping everything for Hanukkah, which had me up on a ladder outside hanging Hanukkah lights during this time too, something I thought I’d skip this year but ultimately wanted to do because I love holiday lights. And prepping to come back to Philadelphia. It’s no wonder I was feeling worn out.

We’re in Philadelphia now, and while I didn’t take much time off of work through the winter holidays, I am grateful to be able to focus on more project work that tends to bring me more peace and calm. I’ll try not to overdo it activity-wise while we’re here. I think I’m finally over the sinus infection, but both my body and mind could use some time to relax and recharge. Maybe some time reading a book by the fire. We’ll see how that goes.

It was the first time I’d been to see a movie with just Adam, and all decked out in our matching Wallace and Gromit accessories we had a lot of fun together.

The next day Aaron was like a new person (one day cold?) and we were able to keep our whole family plans to head up to San Francisco for MUNI Heritage Weekend! This is one of our favorite events of the year, and we try to go every year. The booths are always a delight, and we picked up some MUNI merch (puzzle! socks!).

This year we didn’t get to ride the boat tram (lines were excessively long) but we did get to ride on the Melbourne car up to Pier 39 where we requested to get off so we could do some pier adventures and have lunch.

There we also got to see car 578, “America’s oldest passenger streetcar still on the active roster of an urban transit agency, and one of the oldest operating electric streetcars in the world,” as it was turning around at the Pier. And then the boat tram while we were waiting for a regular street car to take us back to the plaza.

Unfortunately we didn’t go on any bus rides this year, but we did get to see the vintage buses!

The following weekend we managed to get to our local Legoland! We were told about this place by our first au pair, Claudia, who invited us to come down with her husband. We’ve been meaning to go with them for ages, so it was great to finally go. It’s located in a mall in Millbrae, and it’s not huge but we had no problem spending over three hours there. Lots of little building stations, they were doing Halloween-themed activities throughout, and the boys enjoyed everything.

They also had a Creative Workshop where we got to build witches!

We did the little “train” ride 3 or 4 times, and enjoyed the 4D theater for a fun little movie.

I was particularly enamored with the center feature of the place where they built a bunch of local landmarks from all around the bay area, the central part being San Francisco, including a BART train.

It was a fun day, and now the boys keep asking to go back. It’s definitely on our list!

As I’ve written, our first stop was Boston and on Saturday we left midday for the drive up through New Hampshire and into Maine. Our first adventure stop in Maine was one of my favorites, the Seashore Trolley Museum! When I was a kid, I frequently asked to go, and I now often make a stop there on my trips to Maine, so I was really happy to bring the boys. We got there a bit late in the day, but we were able to enjoy a trolley ride, and I absolutely love that journey through the forest and the boys did too.

And then do some exploring through the barns before dropping by their very fun gift shop. The weather was beautiful and we all had a good visit, even if I wished we had gotten there earlier to see a bit more.

When we got to Scarborough, we checked into our hotel and did a quick stop at the storage unit to get an idea of how much stuff we had. It was then dinner at Sebago Brewing Company, where I enjoyed a lobster quesadilla, a spectacular slice of blueberry pie, and learned that breweries in Maine can put THC in their beers. Wow, Maine!

On Sunday my sister Annette and my nephew Xavier made the drive down from their place and met us at the storage unit. We swiftly identified trash and donation items, and got through a lot more than I expected. Annette helped me load up her car with donation goods (mostly old kitchen supplies and such) and we got a lot more done than I expected. Xavier was kind enough to help MJ finish the work on wiring the trailer hitch, which I was grateful for since it allowed Annette and I to focus on storage.

Then it was off to have some fun! We had picnic area tickets to a Portland Sea Dogs game! We love baseball, but amusingly the only games I’ve been to this year were a couple games in Boston, and now their AA affiliate, the Sea Dogs. I swear I’m still a Phillies and Giants fan!

But baseball is baseball, and we had an amazing time with gorgeous weather. It was great to have a game to watch while I caught up with my sister, and our tickets included some food. And the Sea Dogs won! Plus, with the team going away for games elsewhere for a couple weeks, they held a Kids Run the Bases event so MJ and Adam got to run some bases while the rest of us cheered them on.

That evening we enjoyed dinner at The Great Lost Bear where we continued our trend of bringing our kids to drinking establishments (hah!) but truly it is a family-friendly place and I remembered it from when I was a kid. I now realize why it made an impression, the whole place from floor to ceiling is packed with pictures and lights and THINGS. It’s 100% my maximalist aesthetic, and I find a sense of peace in such chaos. The beers and food were top notch too, and I really enjoyed their buffalo fried cauliflower.

We got back to the hotel late, but I had promised Adam he could stop by a pond near our hotel before heading to bed. With Aaron asleep in the car, MJ ended up dropping off Xavier, Adam and I at the pond, and the boys proceeded to find some frogs. Xavier caught one and Adam was entranced! Those 20 minutes we spent at the pond doing some cousin bonding time was one of the most memorable moments of our trip for me.

But the trip wasn’t over yet! A whole day of adventures and the road trip back to Philadelphia were still ahead of us.

Adam’s graduation from Kindergarten was a week later and we were all able to attend that, and conclude the day with a graduation cake for both of them and dinner at Fogo de Chão!

And then it was time for a few weeks of California summer! Last year we left for summer in Philadelphia directly after Adam concluded school, which meant we couldn’t do anything in California before we left, and I was pretty disappointed about that. California is gorgeous, and in spite of nice weather year around, there still are seasons for things like swimming and boating and it was a shame to miss that. This year, we didn’t!

When I returned from Boston, we went to Ardenwood Historic Farm for their annual Rail Fair. The last time we were at Ardenwood the train wasn’t running, so our first stop was getting to ride on that.

From there, we met with folks from the Western Pacific Railway Museum where we learned about their Run-A-Locomotive program where an instructor teaches you how to run a diesel locomotive and then you get to run one on their grounds! We are 100% going to do that. They were also really kind to the boys, both of whom asked a lot of questions and they were happy to indulge.

Several areas were also set up with model trains, which is always a lot of fun. Perhaps the most fun was the Live Steam group from the Bay Area Garden Railway Society whose model trains ran on actual steam. Some use little pieces of coal for the boiler, others some type of gas or alcohol solution. Very involved, but also very cool.

We spent the following weekend with a lot of water. First up, was our first visit to Cull Canyon Swim Complex! Gaby had gone a couple weeks earlier and reported that there wasn’t a lot of sand, which was important for one of our very sand-adverse kiddos. We went on a rather warm day, so it was already crowded by the time we got there, in spite of getting there rather early. Still, we had fun! And promptly made plans to buy some additional supplies from Costco and REI for our next visit so we could enjoy our time there for longer. On our list: Beach tent, beach chairs, and a collapsible wagon.

The next day it was over to Lake Chabot for paddle boats! We had considered going to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to enjoy the paddle boats there, but the boys didn’t want the long drive, and we were slightly concerned about crowds. None of those problems at the Lake 10 minutes from home!

We quickly learned that paddle boats are quite tiring, hah! Adam and MJ started the journey, but Adam and I very carefully swapped places on the boat halfway through so I could take over for him and MJ and I could get us back to to the wharf. It was fun, but we all agreed that next time we’ll take out one of the motor boats so we can focus more on the scenery and less on paddling.

For some indoor summertime fun, we enrolled the boys in the Kids Bowl Free program that our local bowling alley participates in. It’s funny though, in over seven years of living here all of our au pairs have taken the boys bowling, but MJ and I had never been! So the other morning I took them over to get them checked in and watch them wildly throw a few balls down the lanes. I should participate next time.

It’s been fun, and we have more to do! I took a couple days off this week so we could enjoy a few more fun things and avoid the weekend summer crowds. Plus, after the whirlwind that was April and May at work, I could use a break.

After we went on the Niles Canyon Railway train two days I took off from work to spend some time with the kids while our au pair was out of town, and recover a bit from everything going on. On Monday I had the morning solo with Adam, since he had a day off from school and Aaron was at preschool. Our first activity together was putting up some Halloween lights and decorations outside. Then we went inside to make a custom t-shirt, which Adam had been asking to do for months. His subject? A BART train that we designed from a photo! On Tuesday I had Aaron for the morning while Adam was in school, and we tried out a new breakfast restaurant in town, The Breakfast Club. Everything about it was exceptional and we both ate too much.

On Saturday we had more trains! We went up to the Western Railway Museum for their Pumpkin Patch Festival about 90 minutes northeast of us. Gaby came along with us for this one, and we stopped to pick up burgers about 20 minutes from the museum, and so we enjoyed a burger picnic upon arrival, which worked out really nicely.

When we finished lunch, the boys played in the signal garden! They have a series of old railway signal crossing signs that they have hooked up to buttons that can be triggered with a press. We saw it the last time we visited the museum, but didn’t get the opportunity then to visit.

From there, it was onto the Key System tram that whisked us off to the Pumpkin Patch.

The pumpkin patch activities were supported largely by the local Rotary Club and they put on a really enjoyable time. There was a HUGE hay fort, which the boys were happy to explore on their own at first, but swiftly took my hand and made me run through with them.

There was a bouncy house! And a zipline for kids!

They also had a little hay ride that took us past a bunch of scarecrows made by local groups. On the way out we visited the pumpkins for sale, but we went with some of the smaller gourds so it was easier to bring them back on the tram, and ultimately home, with us.

It was a wonderful experience. As the afternoon wound down we got on one the last trams leaving the pumpkin patch before making the long drive home, during which both boys fell asleep.

On Sunday we finally found a way to celebrate Sukkot. The synagogue in San Francisco that we used to attend had a Sukkah in Colma that they’d set up, so we made the drive across the bay to celebrate with them. Unfortunately, the rabbi couldn’t make it and there were only a handful of people there, but we had some nice discussions and at least the boys got to see the sukkah and hear the group recite some prayers. We went from there to the city where we had lunch at Fogo de Chao, yum.

The late afternoon was spent just hanging around at home before making mini pizzas for dinner together, and then I was off to the airport! In my first work trip in months, I was off to Las Vegas for IBM TechXchange.

I brought a bunch of snacks for the boys, which Aaron spent much of the ride down enjoying as we sat in our seats and enjoyed the views. At the end of the line, we were able to head to the back (now front!) of the train to see them move the steam engine to the other end of the cars and reconnect.

There was also a scheduled Amtrak passenger train that traveled by while we were stopped, which everyone enjoyed.

On the journey back, we spent a bit more time away from our seats, with Aaron and I venturing back to the front of the train to take in the breeze and see the engine operating up close. Then MJ and Adam took a turn.

Once back at the depot we got pictures of the engine! And then went over to the gift shop to get a couple post cards and magnet. They have a small museum there too that had some photos and text displays. The only downside is that we had just recovered from a stomach bug the week before and caused me to be a bit more queasy than I would have liked, but I’m grateful that we didn’t have to miss the excursion entirely, as it was our last chance in 2024 to ride on it.

The day began with checking out a couple buses, and then getting in line for the Blackpool “boat” tram. The boys and I went on this one ourselves as MJ had to run off for an errand nearby. Aaron also had his Studio Ghibli Catbus with us all day, while I had my MUNI Catbus t-shirt, so we made quite the pair throughout the day.

It’s number 233, and painted with green livery (as opposed to the red) and came to San Francisco in 2013. I’m glad we managed to get on this one, as it’s the one that the boys have a poster of hanging in their room and have never been on before. In preparation for the day, I listened to the Ahoy! episode of MUNI’s “Taken with Transportation” podcast to get a refresher on these trams, and it made the adventure that much more fun as we sailed past Ferry Building on our journey down the Embarcadero.

At Fisherman’s Wharf we got off and got some great pictures while the operators took a break. To get back to Ferry Building we took one of the regular service F-Line vintage streetcars to mix things up a bit. Plus, it got us back faster, which was important because the boys were hungry. We met back up with MJ and had lunch at a nearby hamburger joint.

From there it was time to visit some vintage buses! I think the boys like buses more than trains, so this was probably their favorite part. We started off with a ride on the MUNI AM General 4154 from 1975. It took a loop through SOMA, making its only stop at the Caltrain Depot, which was a very specific stop for the day because Caltrain was also having a celebration: for full electrification of their San Francisco to San Jose route. As you’d expect, there was overlap in folks enjoying festivities for both transit agencies. Once that loop was done, we visited the booths in the plaza for a little bit to geek out with fellow transit fans.

Our final ride of the day was upon Adam’s request, the 2230 Mack Diesel Coach from 1956, with the very distinctive Pepsi bottle cap decoration on front. All the buses take the same loop, so the scenery was the same, but we all enjoyed it just the same.

Our final stop was the museum and gift shop, where Adam bought a boat tram post card with some coins from his wallet (and a little help from my Member discount). In all, a very satisfying day! And I was so happy to share it with the whole family.

We got a family membership because with six of us it was actually cheaper than buying train ride tickets for all of us, and we definitely wanted to do that too. The museum has a small indoor section near the admissions and gift shop area that we didn’t take a very close look at since the boys were eager to get outside to see all the trains. The first barn you get to has a bunch of old street cars and trams in it, some of which you can climb into, which was a lot of fun.

We then took a quick ride in the San Francisco Municipal Railway 178 car, now affectionately known as the “Iron Monster“.

Once we concluded that journey, we got to go on the much longer, 5-mile trip, on their Key System 187 interurban train. The cool thing about this one (aside from it being a “slinky train”) is that these cars were used from from 1939 to 1958 to go across the Bay Bridge and in East Bay streets. The Bay Bridge routes are handled by buses now, but I do kinda of long for those rail days and it was a delight to finally ride in one of them. It was also funny to ride past cow pastures and wind farms in an interurban train, quite a different life than it had during service times! And probably surprising to anyone driving down the road when one is making a crossing over active roads.

As we were leaving, someone else on at the museum saw Adam’s BART shirt and noted that one of the control panels that was unceremoniously sitting near the entrance was from the BART system, so we enjoyed looking at all those knobs and switches.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but I was conscious of not keeping everyone out too late and we needed to get lunch. Next time I think we’ll bring a picnic lunch which will give us more time to check out the extra barn tours (one of which has that BART train in it!) and also visit their switch garden where you can play with some of the railway switches, which I know the boys will LOVE (me too).

We went on a lot of adventures. Possibly too many. The first day they were here we spent a lot of time on public transit making our way around San Francisco. We took BART up in the late morning and then immediately took a historic street car over to Fisherman’s Wharf where we finally got to ride the SkyStar Wheel (Ferris wheel). From there they did a little tourist shopping before we headed up to Ghirardelli Square.

Someone remind me never to go to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream on a summer weekend again. It was never a calm experience, but now it’s pure chaos. It’s loud, you hover over a table to find seating, and it’s quite the opposite of relaxing. We did eventually find a table to enjoy our ice cream, but I think Aaron was a little tired at this point so I had to sit with him for a while to calm down after he had a huge tantrum over not getting to finish the brownie on the sundae (it was offered to him multiple times!). Honestly, next time I might just take visiting friends and family to the Factory Store in San Leandro, it has a lovely little ice cream cafe that is enjoyable to eat in.

Once Aaron had calmed down and everyone used the restrooms the next thing on our agenda was riding on a cable car. We hopped on a bus and made our way down Van Ness to pick up the California Street cable car at the end. Unfortunately that’s when we learned that the cable cars had shut down for the day due to the Vice President visiting for a campaign fundraiser that happened to be taking place at a hotel located on the cable car lines. Thanks, Secret Service. Taking a peek at the time, we made a diversion to a nearby Grubstake Diner that MJ had heard good things about. It didn’t disappoint! The bus ride to Civic Center there did disappoint though. It’s not the best part of town, the bus was late, and I think that particular adventure was a lot for my sheltered Maine relatives, hah! Still, it got us safely to BART and all three of the kids fell asleep on the train ride home.

Sunday I wanted to be a bit more chill since everyone was tired, so we had a quiet morning at home together, and then decided to head up to Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland to finally visit the Chabot Space & Science Center. It was amazing!

The gems of the center are definitely the telescopes, and we’ll be back for some of their telescope events in the near future. It was fun checking out the exhibits, and there was a lot of interactive and play stuff there too, which will be nice to take more time with when we go there with just the boys.

They also have a planetarium that does shows all day, and I love planetariums. It’s also a gentle introduction to a theater environment for our rambunctious kiddos, and just like our planetarium experiment in Philadelphia back in July, this one went pretty well.

On Monday I worked from the San Francisco office and then Gaby was kind enough to shepherd everyone from Castro Valley into San Francisco on BART before concluding her day with the boys and heading home. This was when we fixed our missed cable car opportunity! We waited at the Powell Street turnaround for a while, and then caught a cable car back down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a nice walk and discovered the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Visitor Center that has a surprisingly extensive exhibit about the history of the area, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. From there my sister picked up some more tourist goodies and then we got on a street car to head home. Mission accomplished!

On Tuesday afternoon once Adam finished school I packed up my work laptop and we made our way over to the Oakland Zoo. I settled in near the bison paddock for a couple hours to finish work while Gaby and Annette took the boys around the zoo. I met up with them around closing to go on some rides in the area just outside the zoo.

We let everyone have a chill, local Wednesday and Thursday while I worked from my home office, and then took Friday off for some final adventures! In the course of the week, I discovered that going swimming was on their California list, but the beaches are far and not really swim-friendly, so I asked a local friend what she recommended and that’s how we ended up spending the afternoon at the Don Castro Swim Lagoon. It was perfect! I can’t believe we hadn’t been before! Admission for the six of us was a total of $15 and they have life guards and a very clean facility. It’s still beach-like, but it’s all man-made and effectively a big pool, which you notice when you swim out to the deeper parts since you can touch the concrete bottom of the “pool” out there. We had snacks at the beach and wrapped up around 4PM to clean up and eventually meet MJ for dinner. MJ was picking up the family car in Dublin, so we all hopped on BART and then caught a bus to meet him at Lazy Dog right on time to eat.

Our final adventure was on Saturday, to a railway museum that I’ll write about soon. They headed out on an overnight flight back to Maine on Saturday night. It was nice having them visit and seeing the boys bond over adventures, video games, and even chill TV time. I also enjoyed having some quiet time with my sister to catch up on family stuff and how she’s doing in general. We live such different lives so far apart, it can be tricky to stay connected, but these visits every year or so certainly help.