dinosaur train

Buddy, Tiny, Shiny and Don are excited that Keira Chirostenotes gets to babysit them for the night while Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon go out for a dinner on the Dinosaur Night Train. Keira shows the kids how a dead log's decomposition provides food and shelter for many living creatures. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon are gleeful as they enjoy their date, exploring the Dinosaur Train's other compartments. Mom and Dad return home to find their kids filled with more happiness than when they left them and their pillows filled with several little bugs from the decomposing log. The Pteranodon kids are spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa Pteranodon! On the Dinosaur Train trip to their grandparents' place, Buddy, Tiny, Shiny and Don learn about sycamore trees. Grandma and Grandpa are excited to have a whole day with their grandkids and doubly-excited to do a special project with them. They bring the kids to a field lined with sycamore trees and show them a particularly tall one that was - Can you believe it!? - planted by their Dad when he was a kid! Buddy, Tiny, Shiny and Don get to plant their own sycamore saplings and vow to visit their trees frequently to track their growth over the years!

For their second outing at Nature Trackers Adventure Camp, Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, Don and other friends learn about the tree line as they set out to hike up a mountain. Shiny is determined to get to the top of the mountain forest. Buddy wonders if they'll be able to see anything from the mountaintop through the tall trees. The kids are amazed that the higher they hike, the shorter the trees and bushes get! Then they reach the tree line--a certain point on the mountain where trees are really small because they don't have enough air to breathe and the temperature is too cold. In the end, Shiny and all the kids use teamwork to reach the mountaintop together!

After Buddy, Tiny, Shiny and Don learn that it's Mr. Conductor's birthday, they decide to throw him a surprise party in his favorite place - the Dinosaur Train! The whole family plans the party, secretly riding the Rocket Train to pick up friends from all around the Mesozoic and gather ginkgo leaves for a special birthday cake. The party is a huge success - the Conductor is surprised and moved, and loves his tasty ginkgo leaf birthday cake. As the Pteranodon kids play in their family nest, Buddy stares at a sky full of clouds and asks the group, "What are clouds?" Mr. Pteranodon and his neighbor, Mr. Lambeosaurus, have different opinions. As they all get on the Dinosaur Train, they consider whether clouds are made of water or whether they're just made of fluff. Tiny knows who would have the facts--Mr. Conductor! He explains that clouds are made of billions of tiny drops of water that are so light they float in the air. He also takes the group to Cloudy Point Station where the kids play a cloud-spotting game, identifying the three types of clouds they learned about: cirrus, stratus, and cumulus. In the end, a rainstorm certainly proves that clouds are made of water!

While riding the Dinosaur Train, Buddy and Tiny meet Dylan and Devlin Dilophosaurus, twin brothers with amazing double-crests on their heads. Dylan and Devlin like to compete over everything from getting the best seat on the train, to being the best hunter. After Tiny and Buddy spend time with the brothers, they show them how working as a team can help them succeed while hunting! The Pteranodon family is on the Dinosaur Train headed to the Big Pond for a special nighttime treat - watching a meteor shower in the sky! Mr. Conductor stops to pick up Erma Eoraptor, his best friend, whom he's excited to spend time with that night. At the Big Pond, the Conductor and Erma are interrupted a few times while trying to be alone, but soon find the perfect spot back on the Train. They watch the meteor shower from there, as our Pteranodon family watches the amazing meteors from the Big Pond beach.

The Pteranodon family goes back underwater in the Dinosaur Train Submarine and meet Maisie and Marvin Mosasaurus, a daughter and father who are huge, fast-swimming lizards with flippers. Maisie and Shiny bond when they discover neither likes to go down deep in the water. The Pteranodons and Mosasaurus have a great time up near the ocean's surface, each family showing the other how they hunt and catch fish to eat. When Mrs. Pteranodon announces that she and Mr. Pteranodon are going on a special anniversary date that night, and the Pteranodon kids will have their first babysitter ever, the kids are not very happy. The babysitter is Keira Chirostenotes, a responsible, patient teenager. Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Don each take almost the whole evening to warm up to her. While Mom and Dad are on their date on the Dinosaur Night Train, Mom is relaxed, but Dad really misses the kids and can't stop thinking about them. In the end, Mom and Dad rush back to the nest to find all the kids and Keira having a great time!

Our Pteranodon family is on the beach watching small eggs hatch and baby Archelon turtles emerge, and start to swim away. Our family and Mr. Conductor get into the Dinosaur Train Submarine and follow the baby Archelons who discover their own facts of nature - that their mother doesn't stay with them after they're born, and that they will grow up to be giant-sized sea turtles. Tiny and Buddy find out that a newer train will be riding the same tracks as the Dinosaur Train. The new train is called the Rocket Train, and its conductor is named Thurston Troodon, who was a former classmate and rival of Mr. Conductor. Thurston is very confident and boasts that the Rocket Train is newer, better, and faster than the "old Dinosaur Train." Mrs. Troodon, Thurston, and Mr. Conductor's old teacher, suggests a friendly train race. With Tiny and Buddy on board, the "old" Dinosaur Train ends up helping out Thurston and the new Rocket Train after it breaks down.