The Lohreys: Choo-Choo!!

Soooo...there is a train that runs right through our town. Like directly in the middle of it. Not just one train, multiple. Multiple trains at multiples times during the day. So I guess I should just say there are train tracks, but guess what? Kai doesn't care about the train tracks, he only cares about the train that is on the tracks and to me they all look the same, so I assume there is only one. Phew. When we first moved here I hated it. I could hear it any and every time and it would wake me up from a dead sleep and I would lay there getting more and more anxious that the same stupid train that woke me up was going to wake my precious little sleeping one month old sweet bottomed angel. But guess what...it never did. Phew...again. It wasn't until recently that Kai really took notice of the train. That might have something to do with the fact that I kept him rear-facing until he was 20 months old so he couldn't really see the train as we sat there waiting for the ding-dang thing to pass through.....................(I.am.not.bitter) Lately though he's really been into watching the trains pass by and I have been finding myself wishing and hoping that a train will stop us as we are out running errands just so I can simply see his face light up as he lets out his little high pitched 'I AM SO EXCITED' screech and says CHOO CHOO the whole time the train is passing. No, this never gets old, even if the train takes FOREVER to pass through, I stare in pure contentment just watching him.

Anyway, this weekend Thomas the Train came to town!! Woo hoo...or should I say choo choo :o) Now I have to admit that we have never actually watched Thomas the Train. Not that I am against it, but he LOVES Elmo and can barely sit through 10mins, so I don't really bother trying to record Thomas as the only TV that will really capture his attention for a full hour would be So You Think You Can Dance...but I digress. So Thomas was in town and considering Kai's love for trains we ventured to the thriving metropolis of Balwin City with our friends, the Condrons. Our official train ride on Thomas was not scheduled until 3:45, but we got there around 2:30 so we could check out all the extra curricular activities. Surprisingly there was actually a lot more up there than I expected. There was an awesome fire truck (or ruck, as Kai says) that was all opened and Kai got to go inside to check out all the seats and toot the horn. BEEP BEEP!! There was a special video area where you could watch a Thomas the Train episode, a little tent set up with all kinds of train tracks for the kiddos to play with, a bouncy house, a bubble station, a story time area with a train conductor and this big bouncy slide thing, a petting zoo area and of course FUNNEL CAKE (unfortunately we did NOT indulge...which I now regret haha) So Kerington and Kai ventured around from station to station, sweating bullets until it was time for our big train ride. Because it was so hot out we chose to sit on James (don't ask, I have no idea who this is on the show, but I do know that he is red) because it was open and the wind would be whipping through our hair. It was a fun little 30 minute-ish ride and the kids really enjoyed it - after an hour in the scorching heat though, I think they were more excited to be out of the sun and getting a little breeze. However, they did yell CHOOOOO CHOOOO a few times. When we got off Kai kept saying "more? more? more? more?" so I'm pretty confident he enjoyed it! All in all it was a great day and Kai had his first train ride! Oh yeah...did I mention it was about 99 out with probably 100% humidity? Ugh. The things we do for our kids :o)

Checking out the fire truck! Loved it!!