All Aboard! Snapshots from our family ride on the Jingle Bell Express last week. Local volunteers work with Via Rail to run a train from the old station at the waterfront out to the grain terminal in Port Edward. When tickets went on sale about a month ago, all 200 sold in 15 minutes. I got 4 of the last 10 or so for the morning train. Max seemed interested for a while but once he had exlored both cars he was ready to jump in the big puddles he saw from the window. A man with a real white beard and dressed up in a red suit came and gave all the kids crayons and activity books. Max seemed neither afraid nor impressed by him. It was yet another opportunity for him to give a cheesy smile for the camera. Had the trip been only one hour as we had anticipated, it would have been just right. The extra 40 minutes that were added made it a little difficult to keep the attention of Max and his peers. Maybe we'll go again in 5 years. Or not.