Hi Everyone.  It's been a LOOONNGGG time since I did my last post.  I've been busy with other things, like school and baseball and soccer and my BIRTHDAY! I turned 8 last month.  (See my bowling birthday photo above).  
​But now I'm ready for some more train posts! Also, did you hear that Japan is saving turtles from trains by building a sort of tunnel under the tracks?  Here's a picture and an article about it.  Enjoy!

Happy 2016 to everyone! I had a great time last night. I went to a carnival and even got to stay up until midnight. I can't believe I made it. In three day so  am turning 8. I sometimes go on a train ride with my dad to celebrate my birthday. I went to Kingston and Niagara Falls. I would like to go somewhere this year that's not too far from Toronto. Do you have any ideas for me? I hope this new year is a toot! (Get it - like a train horn?)

Last night I had an awesome time on the second CP Holiday Train. There were lots of lights and I enjoyed the ride a lot.

On the ride they handed out cookies and hot chocolate. We also passed a freight train on the ride. It was loooooonnng! There were lots of people watching the holiday train. Out the window we could see people waving and we waved back. There was even a man standing on a garbage can, video taping the train go by. It made me feel like I was a movie star walking onto the stage. When the ride ended there was a huge crowd. Thousands of people came out to watch the train's band. This year the band was Devin Cuddy and Kelly Prescott. They played nice songs and we danced to the music.

And I even gave Santa a fist bump!

When it was over we went to our car, then came back with the 9 bags of food we collected on our street.

 I hope the food goes to people who really need it and gives them a bit of a happier holiday.

Thank you to everyone who donated food to me and the Daily Bread Food Bank. And thanks to CP for making this happen.

Maybe I'll see you on the train!

On Monday I went to the Daily Bread Food Bank on a tour. I was showed around by Tyra. We looked at lots of different stuff.

First we walked down the hall and saw people sorting all different kinds of food including juice, carrots, fish, onions and other stuff like that.

We went because the CP Holiday Train is coming up and we were looking at what to donate. Here is what the food bank needs the most:

• Canned vegetables
• pasta/ pasta sauce
• canned fruit
• 100% fruit juice
• rice
• high fibre/low sugar cereal
• oatmeal
• flour
• granola bars
• canned meat in water
• canned fish (tuna in water)
• dried/canned beans
• peanut butter
• baby food (vegetables and fruit)/ baby cereal/ baby formula
• - See more at: http://dbfb.convio.net/site/TR?fr_id=1440&pg=entry#sthash.1Da8hEna.dpuf

The food bank sends trucks to pick up the food from different stores and firehalls and even malls. They sort it and they put it into big boxes and they send it to other foodbanks around. While we were there we saw people picking up and dropping off food. The food bank also cooks some of the food. The main chef's name is Onu and he is a pretty good chef. He cooks a lot of food and then it gets shipped out.

There are lots of families who need food. I didn't know how many families there were who used the food bank but we'll try our best to help them. I'm going to collect food like I do every year and bring it to the Holiday Train. You can too and you can bring it to the Holiday Train or you can bring it to your local food bank.

130 years ago today the last spike was planted in the ground of the Canadian Pacific Railway.  It was on November 7th, 1885 at 9:22 am in Craigellach, British Columbia. CP says the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was put into the ground by the CPR railroad financier Donald Smith. They were 6 years ahead of schedule. I am surprised that CP was 6 years ahead of schedule and it's still going to be 8 years until the crosstown subway is going to be finished in Toronto. Today I am thinking of people who died building the railway.

The last spike was made of iron. Even though the track was finished, the CPR didn't open until June 1886 because there was still work to do other than the track. The CPR was built to connect Canada from east to west and we're lucky they did that. You can read more about the last spike on CP's website.  Here's the link:

The train will be coming from Quebec and it will go across the country and be stopping at lots of places along the way. Look here for the details:  

The Canadian Pacific  Holiday Train has launched!
It's on it's way across Canada to Toronto and I will be riding on it for part of the trip.
The Holiday Train is a nicely decorated train that travels across the country collecting donations for food banks.
Last year I collected a lot of food from my street and I'm going to do that this year too.
The train stops along its way and there's different bands that plays music for people who come out to see the train.
Last year I thought the band I saw was a good band and I liked what they were playing.

The Holiday Train is special to me because not many people get to ride on it and it brings people together to see the trains lights and the band that plays and it's doing nice things for people by collecting food.
If you want you can come out to see the band play too.
You can see the Holiday Train schedule here:

But we didn't see any trains. We did see a light maintenance vehicle. On the last day we went to the Wilkinson crossing one last time and we saw our last train there ever. It was a big, long CP freight train. I felt sad and happy. Happy because we saw the train and sad because we were leaving.

I miss the cottage and all the tracks around it. I hope we will discover more tracks soon. 

This will be my last weekend EVER at my cottage. It's sold. I am sad to say goodbye. I am also sad to say goodbye to Wilkinson, the first rail crossing I've ever seen.
But there are other train crossings around and I can see them any time.
I can visit them in Toronto. I am starting school this week and even though I don't cross train tracks on my way to school lots of kids do.
That's why CP is starting a new campaign that's called See Tracks, Think Train. 
That means stay aware of crossings and trains all the way to school if you're crossing the tracks. What I'm trying to say is, be safe around the tracks.
CP is asking kids and parents to take the Rail Safety Pledge. It's a promise to take the safest route all the way to school and back. 
When I'm around tracks I'm going to be careful and cautious. When I see tracks, I'm going to think train.
I take the rail safety pledge. 
Take your pledge too by using #SeeTracksThinkTrain on Twitter or Facebook.