A Day Out with Thomas

A little while back, I saw three tickets (the exact number we needed since Caleb is free) to "A Day Out with Thomas" on Craig's List. The listing said that her mom purchased the tickets via a TicketMaster, thinking she was purchasing tickets for a Thomas ride near them in Colorado. Instead, she ended up with tickets to the Strasburg Railroad near us. She was trying to sell them close to full price, and I made her a low-ball offer via email. She said she wanted to think it over and got back to me within a week or so saying the tickets were mine. I was a little nervous to send cash in the mail, but the price was good enough that it was worth the risk. I also did some research online and made sure Thomas was actually going to be in Colorado the same weekend and talked to other people she had done transactions with. I got the tickets mailed back to me in no time! While Joshua didn't even really know who Thomas was, we had been talking about taking the boys to the Strasburg Railroad, and this event sort of killed two birds with one stone. Here comes Thomas!That Sunday morning, we were having a leisurely family time, knowing our train ride was at 10:15. It was around 8 am that I started to think about the event and decided to look at the tickets - and I was glad I did! They said to arrive an hour early. So, we hurried and got showered and dressed and headed out. I realize now that they say to arrive so early because there is NO parking anywhere close to the Strasburg Railroad. We saw folks parking at Sight 'n Sound and the Red Caboose Motel and getting shuttled in. Shawn parked at the National Railroad Museum, going against all signs that said "NOT EVENT PARKING" but we knew it would be closed on Sunday. We walked across the street and down a little bit on a somewhat narrow little path until we got to the event. I also didn't realize that you can go see Thomas and do all the other little events and only really need a ticket to get on the train ride. Here's Caleb in front of a little display that was there.The boys weren't too sure about the noise of the trains at first. This is really the first time they had ever seen something up close and personal. We walked around a little bit to get a feel for the place and then we let Joshua ride this little ride, which you'll see below. You crank the "train car" with your hands/arms and it goes around the track. He LOVED it! In fact, he went on three times in a row before we suggested that we keep moving since Caleb was too young and getting anxious.The first time round, a man who was fixing the track came up behind Joshua and asked if he would like to make a little choo-choo train (meaning he would help push the Bean around the track). Joshua LOVED it! You can't really see it in these pictures, but he's wearing a Thomas shirt, borrowed from our nephew Grant, who LOVES Thomas the Train.
Daddy snapped pictures as Joshua rode. The week before the event, we made sure to 'pump up' trains in general to Joshua. We recorded a Thomas show on TV and read him Thomas books and talked about trains at every moment we could to make sure to get him excited to go. Now we realize we did too good of a job. He's still begging for the Thomas song (which he really likes and we found just the song on YouTube), and likes to play with the toy train he got for his birthday last year.After Joshua rode this little ride, we went to the tiny train (which again was free, or "included in the price of your ticket"; however, no one ever really checked our tickets). Here's Daddy & both boys as we waited to get on the train. This little one made a TON of noise and every time it would whoosh steam or 'toot toot' Caleb would jump in fear and clutch onto us for dear life. Joshua wasn't too sure he wanted to ride it either.But, we got on as a family into one of the little cars and both boys did just fine. However, we didn't realize how dirty it would be. The four of us were covered in soot, literally, as we stepped off our little ride. Joshua rode with Daddy and Caleb rode with Mommy. My little guy was very nervous about this ride with all the noise, but he got calmed down once it started moving.We saw another little exhibit where you could meet Sir Topham Hat, but at that point they were calling us to come line up to get on our train ride. I carried Joshua who said "all done, train ride"... he wasn't so sure he wanted to get on this moving thing (but he did great once we did get on). To calm his fears, we sang the Thomas tune and he loved it. Here came the Strasburg Railroad train with Thomas pulling all the cars. All aboard... it was our time to get on!The people in line in front of us and behind us had driven over three hours and were staying in a hotel just to come to this event. (And Shawn thought we paid too much with our discounted tickets - imagine the price they were paying just for that little 15-minute ride!) I love Shawn's face in the picture below. He's such a good Dad!We went into the beautifully restored car. Here is a picture of the seats right across from us.And I took a picture of the inside of the car...the detailing was exquisite. And a handsome man made his way into my photo!Joshua chose to sit next to Mommy on the front half of the trip. We looked out the windows at the corn fields and the other trains. He was so excited...which you can't tell by his face in the picture below...haaa!!!So Caleb took a seat next to his beloved Dadda. We thought it was amusing that Thomas doesn't even go the whole way to Paradise like normal train trips (although with little kids, that's probably just as well). The Railroad charges more money and goes less far, doubling the amount of trips it takes and making a killing on young families.Here are some of the sights we saw out the window...more trains! We also saw the Ranck farm - Shawn went to high school with one of their sons, and I had done some volunteer work for Don Ranck when he was running for public office.Joshua was loving it. In fact, on the way home he said "fank you, momma! Fa-tastic job!" I was glad I had bought the tickets since he enjoyed it.On the way back through, Shawn & I traded seats since I like to move forward and can get extremely car sick riding backwards. So, Bean stayed with Daddy.And I sat with little Caleb Luke, who did well for the most part. He doesn't like to sit down, but he seemed to enjoy the ride okay. A photographer went around and took pictures of families, putting little train hats on the boys. The photo turned out adorable, but they wanted $20 to get a 5x7" so I declined.After the train ride was finished, we said 'bye-bye' to Thomas, thanked him for taking us for a ride, and continued on. Caleb passed out in our arms, so we walked a little bit more to see what else was there. In one tent we found a little place where Joshua could play with the train tables, which he enjoyed.Soon, though, it was time to head out and grab some lunch and real naps. Daddy also mowed the yard and I did a dry run of what I'm taking for Joshua's preschool snack that afternoon. I also emailed the gal I bought the tickets from, thanking her (since she had lost money on the whole thing). She wrote back that she was glad we had a good time. It was a busy, but fun day.See you later, Thomas!