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!

Virginia Beach 9/3-9/4

Thanks to the Navy, we went on a free trip to Virginia Beach and crossed paths with the Lyon family once again when we accompanied Michael on his business trip to Norfolk, Va. While Michael was at meetings, we spent the first morning at Carrie's house and had a great time playing inside and out.

Mikie & Gunner checking out the coy and catfish in Carrie's front yard pond.

Zachary and Hudson meet for the first time.
As soon as we told Mikie we were going to the Virginia Beach, he immediately connected that with the beach at Ocean City and asked if we could play mini-golf. Luckily, there were 2 courses not far from our hotel. The first night we played the Pirate course.

This club was just the right size for Zach. He would hit at the ball about 10 times at each hole and then decide that picking it up and carrying it to the hole was a much better idea.

Sorry...I can't figure out how to rotate this video clip.

Of course, while waiting for the rest of us to finish, he needed to climb on the rocks to get a better view of the shallow (but very blue) water flowing through the course.

Early morning on the beach! We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed across the street to play in the sand before checking out of the hotel.

Staying a safe distance away from the waves after the last incident in Ocean City.

We were so lucky...a cranky crane was busy working on the hotel across the street.

Testing the waters...still not taking any chances.

This play structure was right on the beach! Mikie pretended to follow the treasure map painted on the inside and led us on a trail past the sea turtles (garbage bags), palm trees (spotted in the distance), and mountains (hills of sand from a construction area), etc. It is fun to see him starting to use his imagination.

After showering and checking out of the hotel, we dropped Michael off on base and I took the kids to the aquarium. Mikie took this picture of me, but would NOT get in for me to take his. He really enjoyed building sharks on the computer by adding different fins, teeth, and tails.

Mikie was cute watching the sharks pass by. Zachary wouldn't get very close...I think this is because earlier, we were at a porthole viewing window and a giant sea turtle came swimming up from the bottom and passed right by the window startling Zach. He took a few steps back and fell down. It was funny at the time, but I think that made him a little leery of the shark exhibit.

At the aquarium, there was a "Little Builders" hands on exploration room for kids. I thought it was very well organized and I was impressed that they had 3 animal exhibits in the room: finches building nests, beavers building dams, and alligators (building a ladder by climbing on each other to get out of the water? ok...that's a stretch) Zachary of course, was thrilled with the funnel of air that keeps the balls suspended above it.

While Mikie was fascinated with moving balls and blocks along a conveyor belt.

Hammering with your mouth open assures that you will hit the nail on the head!

I really must get a paint sprayer next time. It'll cut my time in half!

Pushing was fun, but now Mommy can give me a ride.

I'm too little for these silly hats!

Mikie got to pet a baby alligator.

One of my favorite exhibits just happened to correlate with our study of insects this past month. There was a room with giant grass and insects (yes I know this snake is not an insect but he was so cute standing next to it) that made you feel as if you had just been zapped with the Zalinskey's shrinking machine and were now living in the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids." Mikie did a great job answering the questions on the computer quiz and hopefully learned a few things about the creatures in the marsh.

After Michael finished working & after eating at a restaurant on the beach, we played the jungle mini-golf course.
Zachary followed his ball and crawled right through the little rock cave.

I think Zachary enjoys mini-golf just as much as Mikie does.
Mikie next to his favorite animal. You may wonder why I don't have any pictures of Mikie golfing...well..that's because he was always one hole ahead of us. He was just so excited he couldn't wait to play the next hole.

Once in a while, I am appreciative of all the Navy trips Michael has to go on and this was one of those times. We had a great time and the boys were so well behaved.

Unfortunately, the day after we got back Zachary got another ear infection (which I think is a result of him cutting another molar) and was put on the antibiotic Omnicef which caused him to have major GI problems over the weekend and a very raw bottom. We find out in 3 weeks if he'll have to get tubes in his ears.

Leah's Princess Party

On August 30th, we were invited to a Royal Celebration in honor of Princess Leah turning 4. We drove to Front Royal on Friday night and helped transform their house into a castle fit for a pretty princess. I had so much fun helping to plan a girl birthday party and can't wait for a daughter of my own!!!! Upon arriving, they kids decorated their crowns, swords, and magic wands. They then dug in sand to find gems and jewels. Next, it was time for a game: Pass the teapot...played like hot potato, but when the music stops the child picks a prize out of the teapot and is not out. After lunch, Rebecca led the kids on a princess hunt around the house following clues and finding a treasure left at each princess' station that they could use later to decorate a foam picture frame. The kids had a lot of fun with this game and then it was time for cake.
Princess Leah looks lovely in her white princess shirt, while Prince Mikie is very handsome in his Prince Charming shirt and yellow crown with a pink elastic band. I was so impressed that he actually wore it! He never wears anything on his head or anywhere else (he won't even wear a jacket). I still don't know how Rebecca talked him into it, but he wore it for most of the afternoon!
Zachary wouldn't leave his crown on, and so we snapped this picture very quickly while Daddy held his hands down. Zachary had fun keeping up with the big kids and tore down every decoration on the door within his reach. We finally gave up and just decorated the top half of the window panes.
Leah with her beautiful castle cake. Rebecca did a great job adding details to make the castle perfect for her little princess (even if we did almost run out of frosting, have to make 2 batches of pink, and couldn't find the Snow White figurine) Everyone was commenting on how neat it was!

These are only a few of the pictures from her special day. I made a photo show that really captures the events: The Story Of Princess Leah's 4th Birthday (click here)

Richmond Metro Zoo

On July 23rd, we took the boys to the Richmond Metro Zoo. It was a really hot day, and a very small zoo, but we still had fun. Here they are on the zoo Carousel.



One of the only words Zachary can say is "duck". Here he is pointing at the ducks in the pond.


My favorite zoo animal is the giraffe. Luckily, Mikie wasn't scared and even got to feed and pet one. It was the best part of our day.

Zachary's turn....he didn't seem to care about them too much...but he did like....
...The COW!

We rode on the "train" around the Africa section of the zoo. Mikie was really excited to see animals from all the different continents since we studied them in our preschool playgroup last year. I enjoyed hearing him say:

"Daddy, now we are in Asia!" "Mommy, now let's go to Africa"

They even had a baby zebra to feed and pet.

They didn't have any elephants (Mikie's favorite animal) so he told me his favorite part of the day was feeding the camels. I guess they don't want you to get too close to them so they have tubes that you get to pour your feed pellets down. Mikie thought that was so much fun!

The Bug Box

A few weeks ago, we went to THE BUG BOX with Lenny, Brooke, & Nathan Klepic. The boys had fun looking at the insects and reptiles. I took advantage of our "field trip" and did a unit study on insects with Mikie. He can now tell you that insects have a head, thorax, and abdomen, 6 legs, and 2 antennae. His favorite insect is a grasshopper.

Lenny Ladybug & Mikie Butterfly

Zachary loved the spiders! EEWWW!
Mikie with the grasshopper.

Mikie examines them through the magnifying glass.

Zachary just wants to use the magnifying glass to hit things!

Even though the bugs were really neat, I think Mikie's favorite part was putting together and alphabet puzzle with Lenny in the discovery room.