A Day Out with Thomas

So a few weeks ago we were some of THOSE parents who paid way too much money to go ride a train pulled by a life-sized Thomas the Train engine. I found out about this event last year when it came to the DFW area, but it was the week Graham was born (of course) so we didn't make it. And this year, I thought both of our kids would like it--because there are so many varying-sized Thomases around our house that Graham is fully indoctrinated into the love of Thomas. I don't mind spending some money on experiences that will be good memories and get some good pictures. And OH this was a cute day.

We didn't tell Dane what we were going to do, we just hopped into the car and started driving. It wasn't even a big secret; he just had no idea. And then we pulled up and saw Thomas the train standing in the train station--and Dane just about lost it. I WISH we'd had our camera on him when we pulled up. He could NOT believe it. "THOMAS?!? IS THAT THOMAS!?" We were there pretty early in the morning and got some good pictures with Thomas in the background (as good as we could with the lighting). I just love Dane's excited face in this picture.

We got to ride on the train pulled by Thomas, for about a 25-minute ride. Dane was loving it. It went much better than the last train ride we did where both boys were crying by the end.

And now some pictures of how CUTE Grahammy was on this train ride. So happy to just be standing on the seat and looking over the seat back.

Oh yeah, Dane was there too. He was too excited about the train ride and looking out the window to be bothered for pictures, though.

They had a whole ton of little activities going on after the train ride. Electric train sets, Thomas the Train trikes to ride, a clown walking around, a big sand box, even a little mini-petting zoo. It was like KID HEAVEN. They had literally every favorite thing of kids this age.

Dane really liked the bunnies. (I did too--if we were to ever get a pet it would probably have to be a bunny.)

Dane was POOPED out after just two hours of all this excitement. This was one reason why I didn't want to tell him and have him anticipating this exciting event--when he gets super excited, it drains him SO fast and he loses all ability to behave and be nice. He yells back at us and cries when we have to go. But it's pretty understandable if you take a step back--because when your expectations are up so high, any little disappointment becomes HUGE. This whole event was worth it just seeing his face and how excited he was to see his favorite train in real life. We probably won't ever do it again, but it was a fun one-time thing for us in this stage with two little boys.