A Day Out With Thomas

When I found out Thomas the Tank Engine was coming to Nashville I immediately thought of our youngest son. Not long ago he was a huge fan as was our oldest son when he was the same age. I decided to ask him if he'd like to go see Thomas as a part of his birthday present. I was surprised & pleased at his enthusiastic "Yes!"

We set out on a sunny Sunday afternoon just Mommy & Bugs. He was looking forward to it & asked questions the whole drive there. At the entrance we were first greeted by a friendly lady who gave us our tickets. As we entered there were two very friendly gentlemen who greeted us & gave us a map. Off we went!

Our first tent was the play tent. They had several train tables set up for the kids to play. There were also coloring pages. We took those home for later.

His next choice was to ride on the little train. It went in circles around the lot. We enjoyed it & waved to people as we drove by.

Here is the front of the train. For our first ride Bugs chose for us to ride in the caboose.

They had a few blow up bouncies & a slide. I really liked the fact that everything but food & drinks were included in our ticket price. No having to dole out more here & there. It was all paid for!

He chose to go head first every time.

He loved it and came up smiling! LOL!

Here he goes again! See the big smile on his face?

It was a riot to watch him.

Model train

These were neat. He posed by his favorite train, James.

More friends to pose with.

We stopped to watch the magic show.

We even got to be a part of the show!

The highlight of the day.......meeting Thomas!

Mommy, Bugsy & Thomas

We even got to meet Sir Topham Hat!

Our tickets to the ride of the year.

Inside the train car. And guess who is pulling the train? Yes! Thomas!

The train car. We only had to share this car with one family. Nice!

The other cars were all packed. Hee, hee!

Comfy in our air conditioned train car.

The ride begins.

Nashville

Hiding behind the curtain.

On the ride back we switched sides so we could see the scenery on the other side of the train. It was neat that we could actually do that. If we hadn't been last in line we wouldn't have been able to. Sometimes it pays to be last!

To say he loved the train ride is an understatement. =0)

There was a little hallway that led from the car everyone else was in to the one we sat in.

An event to remember.

Another ride in the mini train.

This time we sat in the front car and had the train all to ourselves.

What a treat!

This is the train car we rode in.

We stopped in this tent to watch a video & listen to a story.

This was an elephant blow up thing.

The kids went inside & got to toss around giant balloons.

When they came out they crawled out of his trunk.

Peek a boo!

Jumping in the Bouncy House.

Lastly he got a temporary tatoo at the fun tent.

He picked James his favorite.

We chose to stop at McDonald's on the way home instead of eating there.

We thought the tall seats & table were pretty cool.

I really had fun with my little boy. It was great to have one-on-one time with him. I could tell he loved being able to choose what we did & when while were were there. He is already asking about going back next year. And he has been playing with his Thomas trains & tracks ever since!

Surprise Trip!

I had seen a Train Exposition advertised on a local television show. It said it would be in Nashville for Valentines weekend. After looking up more information online I was pleased to find out how big it was & that all our children would get in free. Always love that! I talked to Dave about it and he agreed. We didn't tell the kids as we thought it would be fun to save it as a surprise. It was fun to hear their cheers & see their big smiles when we told them as we were driving down the highway into Nashville.

As we expected it was quite busy. But we were still able to get up close to the exhibits. This exhibit had buttons the kids could push. They controlled different things on the model. For example there was a model ice cream stand with a big ice cream cone by it. The ice cream cone would spin around & around when the button was pushed. Some others controlled lights & one even controlled a crane making it go up & down. As you may have guessed these were very popular!

Here comes the train!

My favorite was the Nesquick car.

Can you spot the star from CARS?

Up close

There were 2 trains on this model. Boy were they fast! We liked the Blue's Clues car the best.

Waiting for the train

Here it is!

This was a very small train compared to the others. But boy was it long! I think there were at least 15 cars on it! The model was huge too. We especially liked the tunnels.

Some very smart person, (HAD to be a parent!), thought to have a place for the kids to play. There was a big pile of Thomas train tracks and dozens & dozens of Thomas engines and his friends. There was also a carpet out so the kids didn't have to be right on the cement floor. The icing on the cake was that there were chairs set out for the parents to sit in while they watched their kids play. GENIUS! For a big ol' pregnant lady this was an oasis. Lol.

Bugs wanted his big sister to play too. After a little prompting she joined in.

Lots of Annies & Clarabelles!

Trains are fun!

DUDE! TRIPPIN!

This guy from India gave us these as we came stepped off the escalator. He quickly rattled off something about something somewhere for us to come to and free. That's all I caught. I have an awful time understanding heavy accents especially when people talk a mile a minute. We never did go investigate what he was talking about but we did get a kick out of these kaleidoscope glasses.

He played & played & played.

Bugs even got Daddy to play too.

Still more trains!

We let Sweet Pea walk around the room on her own while the kids played. It was an enclosed area & I had her come back at appointed times to check in. Yep, she's growing up.

There were at least a dozen of these Thomas' to play with. Kids were bumping into each other and driving their trains around. It was quite funny to watch.

I think this was our favorite display. It was right on the kids level and they loved that. There were 3 or 4 different trains going at the same time and at different speeds. The neatest part according to the kids was that the trains all had steam coming out of their engines. And it smelled like candy! Cool!

I was so proud of our kids. They didn't touch, didn't push, listened to & obeyed instructions & just enjoyed the trains.

Another display.

One guy said his display took a minimum of 7 hour to set up. Yow-zah!

They really loved the trains.

More of the display.

Yes! We are in the south! =)

The gentleman here stopped the train to add some liquid for steam.

This is one of my favorites from the day. Boo was being a party pooper about the hat but I have to admit it made the photo turn out to be hilarious!

Loved all the little houses, etc on this one!

Cute little conductor

Ending with a Bang

There were free Thomas rides offered. The line was super long a testimony to Thomas' ongoing popularity. We saved this for last because of the long line. While Dave & the kids waited in line I took my water bottle and waddled off to find a place to rest. I foudn this sweet couple who must have been in their 70's. They were sitting down at a table & soon we were chatting away. They were at the show to get some ideas & materials to make their own model at home. The husband enjoyed telling me all about his plans. He was going to make the stand to put it on and set up all the tracks and trains. His wife was looking forward to doing all the landscaping, buildings, etc. I thought that was a neat plan. The husband also had a lot of information on railroads in general. One he told me about was in the south going into the Carolinas and I think Va. Anyway, I loved listening to all the facts he shared.

The kids finally made it to the beginning of the line. Actually the time went by quickly for me as I was enjoying my new friends. I excused myself and went over to take pics and watch my kids enjoy thier anticipated ride!

Off they go!

Sweet Pea told me later that she figured she had waited so long in line that she was going too! LOL!

Around the bend

Waving wildly at Mama!

They had such a blast!

After a few more quick stops on the way out we decided to call it a day. We have never been to a train show before and this was lots of fun. Definitely something we will do again!