Day Out With Thomas!!!

I have Dresden has been looking forward to this day for about nine months or more now! As soon as I got the wild hair to look up when Grapevine's Day Out With Thomas would be, I knew it would be something we'd go to. I honestly can't remember how our foray into the world of the Island of Sodor began, but we are now permanent residents there at least for the foreseeable future. Isn't that funny, that you can't always pinpoint the moment your child begins to like something? I feel like we've always just liked Thomas, and his Thomas the Tank Engine toy train is one of the earliest small toys we got him. (In a dramatic twist of fate, said toy was actually left behind at a Cheddar's restaurant by the grandparents who were taking the boy out to dinner, the very day before our Day Out. Oh the irony!) While I realize Dresden won't likely remember anything about yesterday, Alex and I like to think when we take him to do these things we are shaping his subconscious mind in positive ways...oooh, deep, right?!

Our ride wasn't until 3:45, because I, being the schedule-follower I am (HA!), thought it would be best if he had a nap before we went. Well, we just threw that plan out the window (cuz we're more like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, you know "fly by the seat of our pants, moment to moment"), and headed out around 11 and just decided to make a whole day of it. We ate lunch, walked around Southlake Town Center, and leisurely headed over to Grapevine with almost two hours to spare. But you know how sometimes there's such a thing as being overly on-time? Because we took the shuttle from the parking lot and arrived at the little Thomas festival they had set up, sweating our faces off the minute our feet hit the pavement, and were like "Okay, um, so now what?" Somehow we managed to sweat gallons and gallons more pass the time, and finally got lined up around 3:15. Okay, so enough of that...now onto the good stuff!

Watching as Thomas pulled up for the group ahead of us.

Saying hello to the Thomas sign

A (shaded - amen!) exhibit of toy trains. Dresden might have been just fine staying here all day!

Waiting in line to board the train, a reflection in the train window.

A little aside about my hair - I've asked Alex to please promise to tell me from now on when my hair unknowingly looks like I haven't taken it out of a three-day pony tail to brush and restyle it. Y'all deserve better than that! So you may get the two-day pony tail, or if I'm feeling really generous the one-dayer. You're welcome.

And now, a little before and after. This was on the train, before we started moving. 

The excitement was palpable.

Annnnddd...this was as we began to pull away from the station, at a snail's pace nonetheless...He was doing his best to be brave, and repeating his little "Okaaaayy! Okaaaayyy!" mantra to himself. He was so worried! I don't even know how he noticed we were moving it was so subtle!

But then, this guy came by to punch the tickets...

And all was well with the world. Dresden was so proud to be holding those three little tickets. It was the sweetest thing to watch him in anticipation of the conductor.

After he punched them, Dresden wanted the conductor to come back and kept saying 

"Ductuh! Ductuh?! Again?!"

A perfect Poker Face, if you ask me!

 I think he wants to be a train conductor when he grows up!

Sweet Dresden and Daddy shot 

(he held onto those tickets for the whole rest of the ride, would not let me take them, lol.)

Post-ride...The line for the "pro" pics with Thomas was disproportionately long when compared to the 98-degree heat index, so we opted to go rogue, to the "other side of the tracks" (that's how we roll!), and Alex got his own shot of Dresden "with" Thomas! Works for me :-D

Thomas the Tank Engine in all his glory!

Tipping his hat to Thomas

Bye-bye Thomas! See you next year (or maybe in a few!)

Despite the heat (which I will just ALWAYS complain about, sorry guys), it was a great, well-worth-it day! The train ride was a LOT of fun, with the conductor getting everyone excited about the trip before it started over the microphone, and then over the speaker system Thomas "talked" to all the kids, and they played Thomas songs and got the kids to clap and stomp along. It was a short trip, just down under the highway and near the airport and back, but passing the green trees on each side of us was peaceful and relaxing. I definitely think we will do this again, maybe when he's 4 or 5 so he can have his very own memories of it. Until then, we'll just keep adding to our Thomas and Friends collection, and watching our Thomas DVDs to keep the memory alive!

We were all sufficiently exhausted afterward, and the little boy who had about a 40 minute nap in the car all day long was so well-behaved despite that fact, which was a miracle. When I was putting him to bed, he was jabbering to himself, and the words "tain" (train) and "Mommus" (Thomas) were spoken softly more than once, and again when I went to listen at the door before getting him out of bed this morning. To me, there's no better sign of success!

Have a great rest of your Sunday! We are off to watch Tangled as a family. I'm pretty excited, not gonna lie!

Love,

Cassie