On Saturday morning we hit the road for a secret adventure. We didn't tell the boys, but we were going to see Thomas the Tank Engine, in real life. Tyler is a big Thomas fan, and Connor still likes it somewhat too. We told the boys to try and guess where we were going. Connor figured it out as we drove past the entrance to the train museum.
We had to park about a mile down the road, and then catch a big bus back up to the museum. We had tickets to ride on Thomas at 10:45, and we arrived at 10:09. We figured we'd make it just in time. We had to go through all the usual pre-adventure routines of putting on sunscreen and hats (Nana got the boys matching Day Out with Thomas conductor hats!). By the time we'd done all that, and walked to the bus line, it was 10:35!
I started to worry that we wouldn't make our train. I started to worry that we wouldn't be able to take the kids on a train ride if we missed ours. The thought made me almost cry. It broke my heart to think that my boys might have to face that disappointment...all because I got us there late! But...BUT, thankfully, the folks working there, almost all of them volunteers at the museum, were so nice. And we weren't the only ones who arrived late and missed our train. They said not to worry, they'd make sure we got on, and changed our tickets to stand-by tickets for the next train. And if there wasn't room on that one, the one after it. And, as it turned out, the folks taking tickets as we boarded weren't exactly checking that we had tickets for the right train anyway. So it all worked out.
After riding the train, we decided to explore the museum grounds, where Connor gave me the biggest scare of my life. They have a big outdoor model train exhibit, and several acres of real live old trains to explore. You can climb into some of them, and just look into others. As we were walking around the front end of a steam engine (I think), to look at the model trains, I was distracted by Tyler, and Nana and I both lost sight of Connor in the big crowds.
It happened so suddenly, so fast. One second he was right there with us, the next...gone. I tried not to panic, and had Nana hold Tyler while I started darting around, yelling Connor's name in increasing volume, and increasing panic. Finally I spotted him on the far side of the model train set area. I shouted his name and ran to get him. He seemed a little puzzled that I was so upset. And it wasn't until I had him back in my arms that I realized just how panicked I'd been. I held him so close to me, and fought back the tears.
Then, we had a loooooong talk about always staying nearby, and not walking off. And we made sure that we held hands anytime we were in a big crowd - which we usually do anyway, but I made more of a point of it after that little incident.
That didn't stop Connor from disappearing again as we climbed down from another train. He'd run ahead to climb the next set of stairs to look inside the next train, and we couldn't see him when we emerged from the first train. We had another long talk, and this time I think it sunk in a little better, because he didn't wander off again. Instead he started pointing out to me that he was right beside me. <3
It was a long and tiring day - but fun. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's little one is a Thomas fan.
Looks like fun!! I wanted to do A day Out with Thomas this year, but we missed out. It's usually in the middle of October, but for some reason this year it was the end of September and by the time I looked for tickets (the day before) it was all sold out. :-( Hopefully next year though!
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