A Day out with Thomas

Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan for "A Day with Thomas". Luke had been looking forward to this day for weeks and days on end. I drove the 3 kids and myself to the park and Bruce met us there from work. As we were driving across the boarder and entered Michigan, Luke was convinced that I was taking him home and not to Thomas. So he kept asking me, "Mom is Thomas here, is Thomas here Mom?" He told me not to go home to but to get to Thomas right away. I guess this 1 hour car trip (It should only take 25 mins but the boarder was all backed up)was just too much for Luke to handle with all the excitment he had bulit up inside of himself to go see and ride Thomas the steam engine.

Once we got to Greenfield village and Luke just SAW Thomas puffing around the track, he starting jumping around and yelling THOMAS, MOMMY AND DADDY, I SEE THOMAS! He could not contain his excitment any longer, it just blew all out of him when he say Thomas. It was a riot to watch. I don't think I have ever seen Luke so excited about something like this before, it was quite entertaining and enjoyable to watch as a mother. It is funny how children enjoy the small things of life and how we as adults forget to take the time and enjoy what we have and see in our busyness of life.

The last few weeks Bruce has been very pre-occupied with finishing up his semester of school work, so there was little time to spend with Daddy, and I know the kids were missing their Daddy to play with. Bruce finished his last paper of the semester Thursday of this week, so he was now home free and the kids were ready to spend some quality time with him and Thomas of course.

Luke and Allison were able to meet the train master from the island of Sodor and then the highlight of the afternoon finally came at 3pm. It was our turn to ride Thomas the steam engine. What a thrill for Luke and Allison (they have never been on a train before). When they told us we could get on Thomas and pick our seats, Luke was off and ready to go. He hopped on that train so fast and was screaming with delight. Our entire family went on the train, and to my surprize there was not many people there at all. I guess because it was a Friday afternoon and most people were working. Caleb even got to enjoy his first Thomas ride at 1 month old.
The train took you all the way around the entire Greenfield village (for those of you who do not know, Greenfield village is pioneer village from many years ago.) So the train ride was about 20 mins long or so. During the entire train ride Allison would wave to anybody we passed by, she looked the queen on her throne while riding Thomas. She was enjoying every minute. Luke on the other hand just sat there and soaked all the excitment in, he didn't talk much during our ride but he was looking at everything and loving every minute.

Once we got off the train, Luke was in tears for at least 1 hour. All he wanted to do was ride Thomas, he even told Bruce that he wanted to sleep on Thomas the train.
There was other things to do in the park for the kids as well, they got Thomas character totoos, and they got to play with Thomas train tracks that were all set up in a tent to play with, we went to the gift shop and Luke and Allison both picked out a Thomas the train foil balloon to take home as well as a wooden train that said " Day out with Thomas 2008". Luke was playing with it all morning with the rest of his Thomas trains he has in our basement.

We met up with friends of ours to spend the afternoon with them and thier children as well. Olivia and Ryan were having a great time with Thomas as well with our kids. It was nice to get together with Doug and Carla Browne again. We live so close but sometimes it is hard to make schedules meet to get together.

Ryan, Olivia, Allison and Luke waiting to ride Thomas.

Luke and Allison with Thomas the steam engine

Luke in the front of a model T car, we went for a ride around the park in a model T car as a family. The kids thought it was great, no seatbelts and no car seats, just a whole lot of fun.

This was the car we dorve in, we didn't get to drive it, a worker from Greenfiled village did, but still a ton of fun.

Allison on the merry go round!

They had little cars there as well for the kids to peddle around in, Luke was motoring around pretty well and Allison liked her pink car.

Just wait until they hit 16......they really will be driving! AHHHHH...that day will never come right?!?!?!!?!