A Day Out With Thomas, and Without Dexter

The day before heading to Snoqualmie, Washington for the big "Day Out With Thomas", I entered a conversation that ended with ...

Why are we bringing Dexter? Why put him through the big car ride and the hot day? He's getting nothing out of it.

So, we asked my sister if she would like to come look after Dexter from about 8:30am to 11:00pm. She has her license now!!! YAY!!! She happily obliged.

Saturday, July 19th
9:30am
Mommy, Daddy, and AJ head on the road for a 2.5 hour drive to Snoqualmie, Washington, USA to the railway museum for a "Day Out With Thomas the Train".

9:40am-10:20am
Border line up. Thank goodness for portable DVD players and Baby Einstein DVDs. Phew.

10:20am-2:00pm or so
On the road, stopping for lunch, stopping for gas, etc. AJ napped in the car. Thank goodness, or the day could've been ugly.

2:00pm - We arrive!
Upon entering the railway museum property, you are greeted with live music, the gift shop, food vendors, and the big tent of Thomas merchandise. I wanted to find AJ a non-lame t-shirt. I believe I was successful at this, finding a nice navy blue shirt with Thomas the Train on it and all the labelled parts of a train.
You could meet Sir Topham Hat.
You could get a Thomas tattoo, which we surely did.
There was a tent sent up with about 5 train tables and tracks out for kids to play with. It was funny to watch the 2 and 3 year old in 'hoarding-mode'. Watch out! If you turn your head away from one of your train cars or heaven-forbid your train rolls down the track ahead of your grasp for a moment, it's sure to get swiped by one of these kids. The words, "Mine! That's mine! No that's mine!" could be heard from many feet away. My child was not innocent in all of this either. Although he was not guilty of any train swiping, he was definitely guilty of using the "M" word.
A cynical Richard was already questioning the authenticity of our Thomas the Train ride scheduled for 4:30pm. He couldn't help but notice that the real train we would be riding on later that day had no life size Thomas attached to it as the ads suggested.
I informed him that I'm sure there's a life size Thomas somewhere, if only for the kids to climb on even. If there wasn't, and I drove all this way,......... "Heads are gonna roll."
Thank goodness. As you approach the other end of the property, you see him. All blue in his glory. Thomas the train. Oddly, he's at the back of the train. He gets 'dragged', so to speak. Nonetheless, he's life size, he looks real, and you get to have your picture taken with him! It was pretty cool looking! I think AJ thought it was pretty neat.
There was a bouncy castle to play in and in true AJ-touchy-sensitive-emo-style, AJ asked to go in the bouncy castle, removed his shoes, and then flipped a wing nut as he neared the door yelling, "No, no bouncy castle."
-Of course, as we walked away, the crying of "I want to go on the bouncy castle" resonated familiarly in our ears. Good Grief!

3:50pm-We see Jack!
We finally ran into Jack, his Daddy, and his Grandma. AJ and Jack run around a bit, give each some hugs, and then part ways to later meet up on the train.

4:30pm-We're off!!!
-We sat in the old fashioned passenger car with Jack and his crew. Oh, did I mention that AJ briefly started to freak out as we got closer to the train? I assured him that Jack wasn't scared and he seemed to calm down.
-The engine pulls us for about 12 minutes to the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. It was beautiful.
-On the 12 minute ride back down the tracks Thomas is 'pulling' us back to the railway museum. We couldn't help but laugh about the kids in cars at intersections who didn't know about Thomas coming to town seeing this life sized Thomas coming down the tracks, yelling to their moms, "Mom it's Thomas, it's Thomas!" Must've blown some minds.

5:00pm- We head home.
-We stopped at Bellis Fair for dinner at The Country Buffet as we had a hankering for a "Sizzler-esque" dinner experience. It didn't live up to the Sizzler, as expected. Does anything in life? Really? Think about that.
-went to Target. I HAD to do SOME shopping!!! Come on!!!!!! Seriously.

10:15pm - AJ finally falls asleep literally 25 seconds from our front door. What a goof.

Kim had a great day with Dexter. She loved how fast he goes to sleep on his belly. In fact, I think I'll ask her to type up how her day went with him and I'll add it on here.



Other things to mention...

New Foods
-I don't think I've been keeping up on listing Dexter's new foods, as is the life of a second born. Get used to it Dexy.
-Apricots, Oatmeal, Green Beans, Wax Beans, Squash, Peaches (which he does not care for), and I think that's it.
-oh ya, chicken too.

AJ Being a Kind Brother
-Dexter was on his tummy on his play mat and I saw AJ get some tissue and approach Dexter. Immediatly, I said, "That is not a toy. You can't give that to Dexter. " He said, "No, I'm just cleaning up his barf."
-Awwww, isn't that cute?

AJ Antics and Sass
-AJ accidentally spilled some water on the bathroom floor with his cup and I asked him to get a towel to help me clean it up. He said, "No, I don't like to get a towel. Just spank my bum." What a smartypants.

Bouncing Dexter
-Well the Jolly Jumper has definitely been good training for Dexter. Now, in his exersaucer, he bounces like there's no tomorrow. From down the hall you hear "CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!"