Strasburg, PA (Thomas Train Ride)

Since Mikie is still fascinated (maybe I should say obsessed...a fan for over 2 1/2 years now) with Thomas and Friends trains, we didn't hesitate in the least to drive 4 hours north to the Strasburg, Pennsylvania Railroad for a 15 minute ride on the famous blue engine. A little over a year ago (on Mikie's 2 1/2 birthday) we enjoyed our first Thomas day in WA with the Wymans on a very humid July afternoon. This September morning turned out to be just as hot with full sun and the temperature reaching into the 90's. We were very thankful to have 10:45 tickets and be finished and headed home by 1:00. It was still VERY HOT!!!!

We waited until the night before we left to tell Mikie of our upcoming weekend adventure. When I told him that one of his friends who really likes trains is going to be there too, he said with such enthusiasm "TATE!" (we miss you!) I had to disappoint him and tell him that Tate lives too far away to go with us this time. So his next guess was "Leah!" Again, a disappointing "no". But when I reminded him that he has a good friend who loves Thomas just as much as he does and told him to guess the third time, he got it right "Lenny!" Kelli, Dominic, and Lenny Klepic (minus the twins) were planning to meet us for the day so the boys could share in this special time.

The drive up on Friday afternoon went quickly and smoothly thanks to the DVD player and Baby Einstein videos. Upon arrival, Mikie learned that he would be spending the night in a real caboose! His first question, "Will it move while we are asleep?" As fun as that may be, "no they don't work anymore" was enough to stifle that disappointment. I was prepared for him to be very upset because we didn't get to choose the number we stayed in, however to my amazement, caboose number 20 was a "good number" but he has requested the pink caboose next time (only my son!).

The highlight of the caboose was the bunk bed. When Mikie saw it, he said so excitedly, "Zachary, this is going to be so much fun! We get to sleep in these beds." But of course, Zachary would be dreaming safely in the pack n' play 6 inches from the ground and not on the 6 foot tall upper bunk. Although, our fearless younger son would have jumped at the chance to tower over his older, more cautious brother who chose the bottom bunk because it "wasn't as scary." Both boys spent every chance they could ascending and descending the 5 rungs, rolling around with their blankie and 'bashi', and bouncing up and down only to hit their heads on the bunk or ceiling above knocking them down in hysterical laughter. (Vision: 3 years in the future. My boys sharing a room, fighting over who gets the top bunk and the countless falls, broken bones, or stitches... Note to self....get plush carpet with extra padding and remove all pointed objects from a three feet vicinity)
Saturday we spent the day at Dutch Wonderland amusement park for kids. Mikie could (and almost did) ride every ride except 4 and Zachary could ride most of them as well. We saw two shows: Thomas Live & The Frog Prince. Mikie said his favorite show was Thomas, but he was cracking up at the high diving frogs splashing into the pool below and at one point cooling us off with a gigantic splash.

Now, what would make this day even more special for two little boys? A round of mini-golf Dutch Wonderland style! Mikie was bubbling with excitement as usual and Zachary was as cute as ever with his short little club whacking the ball in all directions.
We wore them out!!... which meant we had to skip the movie (and popcorn) projected onto the barn at the motel grounds that evening and everyone (I do mean EVERYONE) was nestled snugly in bed and asleep by 8:30 (I think I was still in elementary school the last time I was asleep before 9:00!)

After our good night's rest, we enjoyed eating breakfast in a caboose at our motel. Zachary does not enjoy sitting in his high chair and isn't placated with food, so dinning out with him is always a tag team effort. Thankfully, it was Sunday and the Amish people were headed to church on the road right out of the dinning car window providing enough distraction every time a horse and buggy went by for us to scarf down our food before a lot of wailing began. Then...it was off to the Thomas activities.... The line for official Thomas pictures was way too long and hot to stand in, but I managed to get this shot as Thomas wheeshed by us at a crossing. I only had one push of the button to take the picture, so I was thrilled that Mikie was the one looking (and smiling with eyes open) at the camera!

From the parking lot, Mikie said he saw "Toby" and was so excited that Toby came to PA too! I thought he was just getting his hopes up and letting his imagination run away with him. As you can see from the picture above. Mikie was right! Toby did come all the way from the Island of Sodor! And...we got to ride on him!!!!!!! One more train made his appearance in Strasburg...can you tell who it is? It's "Salty". Mikie and Lenny try numerous times to balance on the tracks so that their blogging moms can take just the right picture!


This video was shot while we were sitting on Toby:



Time for our ride on Thomas! Oh, the lovely breeze we felt (and smelled thanks to a cow pasture) in the open air cars. The boys are showing off their Thomas and Henry tattoos.


We ate lunch at the railroad cafe and then headed to the car. Along the way, we had to pass the train museum which Mikie really wanted to go in, but we could tell that not only was he very tired, but Zachary was in a zombie like state after having been awake for over 6 hours. So, we strapped two screaming children into their car seats and headed for home. It only took Zachary 1/4 a mile before he was out, but Mikie kept breaking my heart asking, begging, pleading, screaming, crying, kicking, etc. to go back to the museum. I hated ending such a special day in such a negative way. We promised him that we would return again at the end of October when we travel north again up to Maine to visit Grandmommy and Granddaddy Jones. Finally, after the distraction of a DVD, Mikie fell asleep in this position:
And just so you have no shadow of a doubt that I did indeed clone my child, this is how Zachary fell asleep (and no...I did not pose them like this!)

Just in case you are still reading this very long blog and haven't seen enough of my adorable boys, you can view all the good pictures from our weekend in my latest photoshow:

Day Out With Thomas Photoshow (click here)

Did you know? You can click on the individual pictures in each blog and they will pop up larger on your computer. I just found this out! Now I'm going back to everyone's blogs and looking at all the cute kids in more detail. There have been so many pictures that I wish were just a little bigger so I could see the expressions on people's faces. YAY!