A Day Out With Thomas!

For the last 2 years, we have celebrated around Rhyan's birthday by going to a "Day Out With Thomas". It happens to come to Chattanooga, Tennessee ON Rhyan's birthday weekend! Lucky!!! :-)

We always get up, eat a bite and head out by 8am because we typically try to get tickets for the 10am or 11am train! And since it takes about 2 hours (or maybe less) to get there, we have to get an early start. You're supposed to arrive an hour before your train ride, but we dont. Cause you dont really "have" to. ha! We do the best we can to get there early.

I had to take a pic of this... it cracked Jeff and I up! If you cant be first... just be second! LOL!

Unfortunately, the day turned out really pretty yucky. It was chilly and rained pretty much ALL day. But I must say, I was SO proud of my family (namely JEFF!) who made just the absolute BEST of the situation!  He was amazing all day long and the kids did GREAT! They "weathered" it all just fine!

First stop! A picture with Thomas! Rhyan was so cute  to hold the umbrella and keep Mack in place!

It was already time for the TRAIN RIDE!!! Ok, so in all honesty, its slightly lame b/c it just goes out in one direction and then comes back (straight line). But the kids think its great, so we do it :-)

They LOVE to look out the window and see the river we pass over... you can see all the rain here...

The train conductor comes around and hands out Jr. Engineer Certificates to each of the kids. So proud!

Inside the train station (which, btw, is the oldest working train station in TN) there is a room upstairs where they show a thomas movie and do story time. The kids ate it up, along with  bag of popcorn! ha!

Outside, there are jumpy things, putt putt, and a petting zoo, along with a stage area with a live band. The kids (and jeff) are always drawn to the petting zoo almost immediately!

Lorddy! He cracks me up!

Next Up: PUTT PUTT! Rhyan, the princess, couldnt play without someone holding her umbrella, though! Jeff made for a great umbrella caddy :-) Such a sweet daddy!

Under some tents there are train tables and coloring stations and tattoo stations, etc. Mack was in HEAVEN!!! The boy LOVES train tables!

Rhyan is at the age where she willingly poses for pics.. Mack, not so much ;-) Check out his pouty pose!  Hilarious!

Typically the kids go down for nap around 1pm and 2pm (Mack and Rhyan, respectively)... we stayed at Thomas till about 1:45 and it took all of about 3 minutes in the car for both kids to be OUT!

Their feet (shoes and socks) were water logged and they were worn out from all the fun! Jeff doesnt really love Day out with Thomas and says each year that we shouldnt spend the $$ on it, and as i said, its really not much. But the kids LOVE it. And its so important to remember (in my opinion) that for kids, everything is NEW to them! So what seems "lame" to us is something really fun for them! And i LOVE that! I dont want to only take the kids to stuff that I think is great because, wow, then their expectations will be off the charts! So we find this to be a great day out and would recommend it, for sure!