Rhyan's 3rd Birthday

My baby girl is THREE! Oh, my heart. What a joy it is to be your mom and to see you grow!

We decided this year to stop the madness of the birthday parties and to, instead, do something FUN for Rhyan that she would enjoy and that we could do as a family. And hey, if we happened to save some money and sanity along the way, great!

I'll say that this has been my favorite decision so far! This year, Rhyan is ALL about Thomas the Train. Tracy had let me know that Thomas would be at the Tennessee Railway ON Rhyan's birthday and so thats the special thing we decided to do for this year!

We kept it a surprise and didnt tell her anything until ON her birthday morning at breakfast. Jeff and I had gotten up early and gotten everything ready to go so that all we had to do was eat breakfast, get the kids ready and head on out. When she walked in the kitchen she immediately said "my birthday present"!

We got Rhyan and Mack matching Thomas tee-shirts. I felt kind of bad that we gave Mack a shirt, too, but I really wanted them to match and we had bought Rhyan a couple of things for her birthday that we would give to her the next day at her "party" (post to come... it was small and family only). But Rhyan didnt mind at all that her brother got a shirt, too! Then we told her that we were going to see Thomas. I video taped that so i dont have a pic of her face but her mouth flew open, eyes got big and she said "WOW! Thatd be FUN! I be excited! Mack, you excited!?!". She spent the rest of breakfast talking about how fun it would be and emulating a train by "pulling" the imaginary horn and saying "chooochooo!"

We had tickets for the 11am ride of Thomas and they suggest that you arrive an hour before your ride. Well, true to Ford form, we got there around 10:20, but it was NO biggie! As soon as we arrived and got parked, guess who drove by.. None other than THOMAS himself!

She was clearly EXCITED to see Thomas!

The Railway is great. They have lots of trains parked around that you can explore the outside of and actual running trains that are HUGE and BEAUTIFUL! So it was fun to see this in addition to all the Thomas themed stuff!

Of course i had to get a picture of Rhyan with Thomas but it was kind of bright, apparently :-)

She kept saying "mommy, i want to hugggg Thomas!"

Told you it was bright :-)

We boarded the train and found some great seats. We had decided to take the baby carrier. Contrary to this pic, he really does love it (my back doesnt, but he does). He really just wanted to get out and explore....

They saw another train. LOVE this face and the sweet excitement she showed ALL day!

Little Mack... oh such a joy :-) KIDDING!

He was FINE once we let him crawl around in the seats and look out the window!

After the train ride, we went to explore all of the other freebies offered. There was a 6 hole putt-putt course that rhyan tried out. And for almost every course where the ball had to go under something, she would put the ball AT the thing it had to go under, sit down, and hit it. Funny girl.

She also LOVED the petting zoo. Although, i'm not sure who loved it more, Rhyan or JEFF?!

I swear, they both LOVE animals!!!

See what i mean?! lol. Crazy hubby of mine :-)

Shortly after the petting zoo (and the washing of hands by all...) we headed into the train station to get some lunch. Boy, do you pay for convenience! Two BBQ sandwich plates and a hotdog was $19. It might be wise to pack a lunch is all i'm saying :-)

And then there was THIS face... the face of "icecream!"

So we indulged. Why not?!

Mack had taken only about a 30 minute nap on the way there and so by 1pm he was about done. We pushed him just a little farther, though, and enjoyed a few more "stations" before heading home. No major meltdowns or anything, but he was definitely getting tired of the stroller and was wanting to crawl around and/or SLEEP. :-)

The BIG bubble maker! Jeff was disappointed he couldnt get a HUGE one to form like the professional! ha

This backdrop was set up for pictures of kids with Sir Topham Hatt, but Rhyan was "SKAEERREED". She wanting nothing to do with him. She would say "he a nice topham hatt but i not like him". So, since he went on shifts, we just waited for him to take a break and got family pics, instead :-)

We did a family picture by Thomas (but never went online to see it) and I snapped this one. They try to keep the line moving so i only took one and was SO glad of how it turned out. Again, it was bright, but i think its SUPER cute!

 

We finished up the day by hitting up the coloring and tattoo stations. Even Rhyan was pretty wiped out at this point :-)

And lastly a pic of my little railway conductor!

We had SUCH a wonderful day with the kids. The ride home was a little "fussy" with kids who couldnt sleep on I-75's rough pavement. But, like Tracy says, if you can get through a day long outing with two kids and not have any major meltdowns or a kid who cries practically all day, its a successful day! And seeing as how the ONLY issue we had was Mack getting tired around lunch time and then being fussy on the way home, I'd say it was a very, very good day. They both had fun and it was great to do something just for Rhyan (as a family, of course) that SHE would love. She is our special baby girl and it was our pleasure to treat her!

But the fun didnt end there! I had one more "little" surprise for after nap that I thought she'd enjoy..

We do love our pedi's!

What  a FUN day with the sweetest three year old I know!