:: a day out with Thomas ::

The long awaited, highly anticipated Day Out with Thomas finally arrived on Saturday, much to the delight of the little boys in our family. After getting through the morning & a sleep for Kael, we left home at 2 o'clock & drove out to Heber, where Thomas was in residence for the weekend. 

Both of the boys rose to never-seen-before levels of excitement when they glimpsed Thomas on the tracks & continued at that level for most of the afternoon. 

We gave our tickets to the conductor,

found our seats,

took a cheesy family picture,

and were given a very special Jr. Engineer Certificate. Danny apparently wasn't qualified enough so he didn't get one.

We looked out the window at the snow covered mountains, the farms with sheep & cows, & the old-school barns,

and talked to the Driver for a little while. 

Being Australians living in America is still a conversation starter for most people we talk to. 

When the train ride finished & Thomas had returned us to the station, we walked through a hay maze,

played with some Thomas the Tank Engine train sets,

and visited Sir Topham Hat.

Then, finally, we visited the gift shop which was filled to overflowing with Thomas merchandise and purchased some ridiculously expensive balloons. Danny gave me a look when I told Jamin we could buy one each for him & Kael, but I talked him round saying that the boys would play with the them for the next 2 weeks & we would not regret it. Here on began a very painful lesson in parenting.

See the barbed wire fence in the photo below? Jamin's didn't last much longer than the 6 metres from the shop exit to this delightful photo opportunity.  We didn't actually realise at the time it had been punctured, just that it was going down, so I took his back to the shop to get a new one. All ok, balloon playtime for the next two weeks still on track...

Then... in the car on the way home I hear Kael say with delight in his voice "Pop!" & turned around to see his balloon starting to deflate. I had thoughts of finding some sticky tape at home & trying to salvage the 'very expensive balloon' but... over the next few minutes Jamin proceeded to very quietly tear a hole in Thomas' face. Kael's balloon was no longer salvageable. 

And so... instead of being a wonderful fun filled toy for the boys to play with for the next two weeks, we are now resorting to confiscating the remaining balloon to the wardrobe because every time the boys play with it, they end up in a screaming tug-of-war with tears streaming down their faces. 

I am contemplating popping the stupid balloon myself...