Our Day with Thomas!

To celebrate Daddy's birthday, we took a family trip to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to visit Thomas the Tank Engine.  As you can imagine, this was a huge event in Adam's life - there was beautiful excitement and chatter during the entire three hour drive.  "I'm going to Thomas's house."  "I'm going to ride on Thomas."  The drive itself was beautiful and really interesting.  We drove over the Susquehanna River and through really pretty countryside.  I loved the stone buildings.

It was perfect timing - when we pulled into the parking lot, Thomas was just pulling into the station.  Phil quickly put Adam up on his shoulders so he could see over the cars and Adam could not believe it.  I didn't get a picture of his face because I was just enjoying his amazement too much.  Clara is extremely well versed in all things "Thomas" so she was pretty excited, too.

The first thing we did was go to the big tents where the kids could play.

Adam liked Henry, the bridges, and the wash down the most.

Clara did some coloring.

In awe of Thomas pulling into the station.

Yay, Thomas!

We stopped to have a little snack and watch Thomas chuff in and out of the station. It was so fun to see all the kids clap and cheer every time Thomas arrived.

Daddy on his birthday with his two favorite Thomas Fans.

Here he comes!

As soon as Adam's foot touched the step onto the coach car, he said, "I'm on Thomas!"

Getting ready for our ride in Annie and Clarabel (those are the names of Thomas's passenger cars, if you are not familiar with the Thomas lingo).  The car was very pretty and it was great with the windows all open - Phil and I actually really enjoyed the ride, too.

Clara is mad in this photo because I put her in my lap for the photo.  She was really into having her own seat by the window.

Both the kids loved the ride.  Adam's favorite things that he saw on the ride were the corn, the big piles of coal, and the farms.

Clara was most excited about the cows.

 After our ride, we got our picture taken in front of Thomas and he blew his whistle and chuffed some steam for us.  As we walked away, Adam shouted, "Bye Bye, Thomas!  I love you!"

On our way out, Adam got to choose one engine to bring home with him, and he chose Edward.  Edward took a bath with Adam and slept in the hotel with him that night.  The next morning, Adam was excited to bring Edward home to see all of Edward's friends (on the tracks in our basement).  It was so fun to see Adam enjoy the whole trip so much.

Thanks for a great time, Thomas!