Thomas the Tank Engine

Yesterday I went with my two boys to Heber City so we could ride on Thomas the Train. Grandma Heiner got tickets for us and ever since we told Jacob about it he was so excited! He had never seen a train up close before, so to get to see Thomas the Train was like the icing on the cake. (the kind of icing that contains lots of sugar so it makes you (Jacob) super hyper and giddy)

It was a little bit windy and cloudy and it rained off and on yesterday, but that wouldn't stop us! So the plan was to meet up with Grandma and Jacob's cousins Kaylee and Autumn Kirkham; Marisa and Braydon Clark; and Aunt Deanna in Heber City....

We arrived at the train station early, so we got to see Thomas come and go once before it was our turn. Jacob was SO excited to see Thomas that he was dancing around and jumping up and down. We got to get up close and check him out.

Every time we passed a picture or sign that had Thomas on it Jacob would point him out to me and say, "Thomas! Thomas!". It was a bit difficult to keep Jacob next to me. I was carrying Ephraim in the Snugli and had the backpack on my back. So I couldn't exactly pick him up... and trying to get an overeager two year old to hold your hand the whole time is not an easy task!

But Jacob finally calmed down a bit and we explored some of the trains in the yard while we waited for our party to arrive. Jacob thought all the trains were great and wanted to climb up on all of them.

Deanna's vanload came after a little while and we all watched Thomas pull into the station. Then we got to get on board the train. Jacob got a little upset and kept telling me "Ride on Thomas! Ride on Thomas!". I finally figured out that he didn't realize we were ON Thomas the Train. So I had to take him all the way to the front of the train and show him the blue part of Thomas you could see through the window. Then I was able to convince him that the entire train was part of Thomas and once again all was right with his little world.

Pretty soon the train started moving and the kids loved it. They were out in the open air watching the entire time. I ended up feeding Ephraim during the ride, which was fine by me because I still got to look out the window. Unfortunately before long the ride was over.


All the kids wanted to "Ride Thomas again!" and they were sad that we were done. Luckily there were some guys making balloon animals at the train station so we could distract everyone and make them happy. Jacob got a blue monkey balloon holding a banana, which he had fun playing with.

Then we went to the gift shop. Jacob found a Thomas-shaped train whistle that he absolutely HAD to have. He carried it around the tent and would not let anyone take it from him. He kept telling me "open it", which would have been hilarious if it weren't for the fact that 3 adults were trying to wrangle 5 children (6 if you count Ephraim) in a shop full of train goodies and tons of other people. Not to mention the fact that I was carrying three or four balloon animals by this point!

We finally got out of the gift shop and went back to our cars. I had to open up the Thomas whistle ASAP so Jacob could check it out. Then we had a "tailgate" lunch and visited for a little while. Someone double parked behind Deanna, so we didn't know how long she would be stuck there. Luckily the people showed up before we were ready to go.

It was a ton of fun to see everyone and we had a GREAT time. We said goodbye and headed down the road as it started to rain. Before long I noticed that the car was awfully quiet. I looked back and found this:

Jacob slept the entire ride home and even took a nap when we got home. He had so much fun that he was completely exhausted. He also got a Thomas book at the gift shop, and I think I have read it to him at least six times already! We have also had to look at the pictures a couple of times. Jacob was playing with Thomas today and told me "want track for Thomas"... uh oh! I guess there is now one little boy at my house who is hooked on trains.