A Day out with Thomas

We went to Nashville on Saturday to spend the day with Thomas the Tank Engine. I'm sure many of you have done this before, but this was our first time. As I've documented, I tried to stay away from Thomas for a LONG time, but when we were potty training Ollie, we gave him one train at the end of a successful day as a reward and we have been all attached to Thomas since then. I say "we" because Jason and I have gotten into it, too. We know all the trains, the songs, the stories, etc. There is a Thomas industry- just waiting to take your money for their small wooden toys. It's like crack for 3 year olds. It's a little addictive for all of us.

So, as a birthday present for Ollie, we went to see Thomas LIVE in Nashville. I knew we would get to ride on Thomas, but I didn't know there were so many other things to do. I kept the bar really low in my mind, so that I wouldn't be disappointed, but it turned out to be much better than I expected! The only downside was that it was 90+ degrees outside and we were on asphalt, so it seemed a little hotter. For some reason we hadn't expected it to be that hot!

They had a big tent with about 9 train tables set up. There are 3 Thomas sets: small wooden trains (we have those), big plastic electic trains and lego trains. Henry was in on the action, too, but neither of them wanted to pose for pictures. They have their priorities, you know.Ollie had an odd reaction to Thomas. He was a little in awe, a little excited, but mainly scared becuase he was so big. He has a great big Thomas face on the front, too, so it's a little frightening, but I imagine he will be more okay with it as he gets older.This is on the train ride that he loved! It lasted about 25 minutes and it went over the Cumberland River. We got to see the Titans stadium and a few other neat things. We got back, had lunch, then saw that they had a petting zoo with a goat, llama, pony and a few other animals. And I knew that Sir Topham Hat would completely scare Ollie. He's not usually afraid of little things, but large dressed up human wanna-bees are not his favorite. So, here are me and Henry. Ollie was to the right screaming. And Henry looks like Sir Topham Hat with his cheeks so red! We kept giving them both fluids all day, but it was still HOT!So, after the mandatory visit to the gift shop (really, you have to go through to get out), and hiking back to the car with 2 strollers, we were all exhausted:


We stopped for gas about 1 minute after we left and this was the scene:All and all, a great experience. I would recommend it, for sure. I think we might try to go to Chattanooga in April- hopefully the weather would be cooler. Let me know if you want to come with us!