Day Out With Thomas!

To celebrate Caleb's birthday with his grandparents I took the boys back to my hometown to see Thomas. Caleb got to see Thomas 2 years ago for his 3rd birthday. Unfortunately we missed last year due to our travel plans for India (our trip ended up being postponed at the last minute, but by the time our India trip was canceled it was too late to get Thomas tickets so we still missed). This year it was great to have both boys along for the fun. When we first got there the boys, especially Malachi, were eager to participate in all the other activities, but I pulled them along to make sure we didn't need to be in line yet to board the train. Malachi was crying about not getting to play with the toy trains until he saw the real Thomas pulling up to the station. Then he went wild!!! He was so excited! Caleb was excited too, but since Malachi had no clue he would see the real Thomas he was beside himself with joy! After Thomas started pulling behind the station for the people to unload I went to take the boys back down to the other activities. Then Malachi started crying again, this time because I was taking him back to the activities that he had only moments ago been crying about me taking him from. Once he saw Thomas those other activities weren't so exciting anymore! It was a great day (though unseasonably hot!) with lots of fun. We ended the day by having pizza at our favorite local spot with my parents before I made the 2 hour drive back home. It's nice to finally be close enough to my family that I can go there and back in a day!

These little kids were so fascinated with Malachi!

What a happy little boy!

Pulling into the station with steam!

Watching Thomas pull up. Caleb is in the blue shirt all the way to the right, Malachi is in the orange.

Can you see the excitement in that smile?

Hugs from Grandma (my mom).

It's nearly impossible to get both boys to cooperate together for a picture!

Since we told him Thomas came to town especially for his birthday, he believed all the decorations in the train were for him!

I love the look of wonder in a child's eye!

Since he was sitting in my lap it was hard to get a good picture of Malachi, but he was having a great time!

Caleb's imagination was in high gear as he watched out the window.

Since the boys were so eager to have fun with all the activities we waited until time to go home to get pictures with Thomas. By that time Malachi was very tired, hot, and ready to go home. Both boys were cranky because I wasn't willing to spend a fortune on drinks or ice cream there when we were getting ready to leave. They could have cared less about the pictures and were very uncooperative! A smile from them was nearly hopeless. The sun was high (and HOT!) overhead which made the lighting overly harsh for pictures, and Caleb kept covering his face to hide his eyes from the sun. Hopefully we'll have better luck getting pictures with Thomas next year!




Two years ago for his 3rd birthday Caleb was a little more cooperative, and with the cloudy day the lighting was perfect. Here's a flashback from the past!