A Day Out With Thomas, volume 2

I was excited about this day since we hadn't told the kids where we were going. In case you didn't know, we took the kids to this event last year. Every night we ask the kids what their best thing for the day was. Preston always says, "We rode on Thomas." He says it EVERY night. We didn't feel we could pass it up this year. I think you'll enjoy Preston's reaction.

We made it up the mountain and onto the train in the nick of time. I got the tickets from will call while Doug got in line. I ran the tickets to him and he and the kids boarded. Within 5 minutes the train was on it's way. WHEW!! And why wasn't I on the train you might ask? After riding it last year at $18 a pop we decided to save $18 and either Doug or I would take the 20 minute ride with the kids. It ended up being Doug who went because ... well, it was a long ride up there and I drank a lot (I was on my cleanse). I was able to capture this great 'getting off the train' moment. Unfortunately Paige tripped and fell before she got on the train so she was grumpy for the entire ride. After she got off I had a chat with her and told her this was a special day for Preston. I had bought him some sunglasses in the 'Thomas paraphernalia' tent (which the kids somehow missed visiting) and let Paige give them to him. That helped her cheer level improve dramatically. She agreed to let Preston have a great day and stopped being grumpy.I asked the woman I ordered tickets with if we didn't have to pay if we didn't ride the train. She said the fee was for all the attractions. I said, "But all the attractions are for the kids." She didn't have a response so I proceeded to order only 3 tickets. And, of course, I stood around the whole time watching my children have fun. I'm sure Doug had more fun than I did since he paid $18 for 'sitting around watching the kids have fun.'

This tent was set up with all kinds of Thomas sets. Preston found a motorized engine named Ben and another one named Salty that he played with for most of the hour he was in this tent. It was difficult having motorized trains because at some point if you're going to enjoy watching it go around the track you have to let it go. It then becomes susceptible to other little kids grabbing it, usually not knowing another kid is playing with it. I didn't want any screaming or fights so I helped Preston watch over his 2 trains. All the adults were understanding of this and were doing the same thing.Apparently it takes concentration to get the trains moving correctly on the track.There were at least 12 of the motorized trains and 5 other tables set up with non-motorized trains and tracks. I had a small altercation with a lady who decided it was her son's turn to play with the motorized Thomas Paige had been playing with for a short time. Paige was eagerly watching her train come around the bend and this lady's son picked up the train. I told her my daughter had been playing with that train. She asked if it was our train. I told her no, but that there were several motorized trains over on another table that they could pick from. She said her son had been waiting for a turn with Thomas. I told her my daughter also waited and was now taking her turn. I didn't want a big issue so I took the Thomas and told Paige to play on another table. This woman's son LOST IT!!! He screamed and screamed very LOUDLY. Everyone looked. But we were already at another table so I don't think many people knew what had happened. I know you could be thinking I'm mean, but I didn't feel it was right for this woman to let her son take whatever he wanted at my daughter's expense. So here's Preston and Paige at another table joyfully watching their trains go around. If I really wanted to be mean I could have included the woman in this picture because she was glaring in the corner by Preston. And by the way, her son had a motorized Thomas within 5 minutes that he didn't have to take from anyone. So I guess everyone ended up happy. I hope you enjoyed my little rant ...

Back to our day of fun ...

Outside the train tent were bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Aside from seeing my kid's happy faces, one of my favorite experiences here was watching the adults who got too close to the kids wildly flailing their bubble wands. I laughed out loud at one guy who got whacked on the head when Preston and another boy got their wands tangled. They both pulled as hard as they could on their wand. The wands didn't separate and just as this father got close to try separating them the other boy pulled hard enough to pull Preston's wand out of his hand. It whacked the dad in the head and covered him with suds. The dad laughed too because we had both witnessed several other adults get covered with suds as their kids flailed their wands around. There was fun to be had by all. Maybe if I would have paid $18 for this experience I would have laughed harder.
Paige has some great bubble success. Good job, Paige!I had to include this model shot of Paige. She is such a beautiful girl.

Proof I was there. And I'm even wearing a smile.Doug was there too. Paige is eating the only food I had in my bag. I guess you've figured out by now this was a budget trip for us. We didn't want to buy $5 hot dogs, sorry. We got the kids to leave by promising them McDonalds on the way home. YAY!! Don't worry, I had my veggies and lemon drink.I hope you don't mind all the stories. We waited in line for about 45 minutes for these balloons. Look at how happy Preston is with his brown monkey with a 'mee-yana' (his word for banana - even though he knows how to say it correctly). He held my hand all the way to the van and was happy and singing. It started raining just as we were getting to the van. I let his hand go shortly before the van so I could go around to my side. He decided to go throw a rock in a little stream, slipped and fell and popped his monkey. You should have seen the absolute devastation written all over his face as his lip poked out and his shoulders shook with his sobbing. He was heartbroken. I couldn't end the day on this note so Doug drove me back to the entrance where I waited in line again (this time for 10 minutes) and got another brown monkey with a 'mee-yana.' This picture is with the first monkey.It was worth the effort and I'm glad we broke the bank to allow our kids this luxury. Thomas remains Preston's 'best thing' every night.