The Kirk's - Boys-R-Us!

Day Out With Thomas -

It Was Kind Of A Big Deal!

And A Special Visit From Grampa Dave Just For This Trip!!

Honestly we didn't know exactly what to expect, but we knew that you could buy tickets for a 15 minute train ride on Thomas and after talking about it with Kaiden, watching the video online & seeing a commercial for it - Kaiden was SOLD - this is what he wanted to do and he thought maybe his Gramp Dave would want to come ride Thomas with us.

SO I figured it couldn't hurt to ask my Dad if he could come down, sometimes he does come into town for business so I asked if he would be in town either of the two weekends that Thomas would be up in Chattanooga, and after one day of thinking about it Dad called me back and said he was coming cause he didn't know how many more years he would have grandsons who wanted him to come do fun stuff with him!  So we hurried to the website to buy our tickets (no less than 2 months in advance & even then our seats were tough to come by!) and then we started the countdown!!

A Fun Filled Day

Of course the anticipation of the next day was similar to Christmas Eve, Kaiden had to have Grampa Dave read him several of his Thomas books and play with the train tracks and his trains, and what kind of Thomas fan would he be if he didn't sleep in his Thomas pajamas!? Then BRIGHT and early the next morning, regardless of going to bed more than an hour later than usual, Kaiden was READY to go & he wouldn't let any of us have a second to even get ready before he insisted on being buckled in his carseat and on the road!!  Chattanooga is no more than an hour or so away from the house and so the ride went very quickly, and we were SO lucky that there had been a cold front that moved in so it was almost chilly when we first got there and all though there were some threatening looking clouds in the sky the threat of rain was less than 30%, so when we pulled in, after being told by no less than 3 people how the men with the orange flags would wave us to our parking spot (oh, really, is that what they are for?) we got to park in the field and hike up Choo Choo Trail to get into see Thomas & all the trains!

Yeah, Kaiden didn't wait his turn so we snuck a picture while he was on the podium

Pierce was SO excited he just kept pointing & yelling Choo Choo!!

Watching Thomas pull out of the station!

The remarkable part to me was that everything was free!!!  Of course with exception to the actual train ride, everything, there were toy tables, creative stations, trains to tour, a petting zoo, a putt putt area, a bounce house, a concert (I use that term loosely in this case cause singing 'the conductors says ALL ABOARD to the tune of wheels on the bus hardly constitutes rock start status - but funny enough that didn't stop them from selling CDs for $14.99 - a deal at any price!!).  You could stand in line to have your picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt, in front of the big Thomas, large posters of other characters & of course real locomotives - and of course they had people positioned at each location that would happily take the picture for you & you could purchase from the photo booth for who knows how much!?  Inside they had a railway museum, Kaiden's favorite thing in there was the case of old time train toys - he loved looking at all the different trains.  And then upstairs you could watch in a movie theater style viewing room all kinds of episodes of Thomas & on the other side they had story telling - but with all the hands on stuff outside, the boys were not really interested in sitting down & being still - go figure!


Train Tables!!

It never ceases to amaze me just how excited these boys get when we go somewhere that there are train tables set up, toy stores, book stores, the Thomas tent, I mean you would NEVER guess they have one up in their playroom & miles of extra track, special bridges & track just for the motorized Track Masters, the way they can NOT get enough train playtime - but it makes for a fun time so we let them at it!!

The Petting Zoo Was Crazy Fun!!  (For Pierce)

Pierce, well he couldn't get enough of anything!!  He LOVED seeing the big Thomas puffing up the tracks, he LOVED all the trains on all the train tables in the toy tent, he LOVED Sir Topham Hatt - he high fived & waved Hi to that weird looking giant man until he was pulled away - but what he LOVED maybe most of all was the petting zoo!!!  Of all things - this sent him over the top on his happy meter!!  Oh my, those poor animals, especially the chicken and rooster, boy were they glad to see him go!!  It's not surprising to anyone who knows Pierce that he has NO fear, of anything, and that he loves his animals, but when he got inside this closed in space packed out with goats, sheep, ponies, donkeys, chicken, bunny rabbits & a bunch of kids squealing & shying away from the animals Pierce stepped up and took over in the animal herding department!  Seriously Dave and I were worried he was going to get kicked in the chest or nipped at with how forcefully he was loving these animals!!  Too bad I only snapped pictures, I am sure a video of this would be forever entertaining!!

Are these ALL mine?!

Those poor foul had NO idea what was coming for them. . . . PIERCE!

How can you not adore this little boy?  Look at that smile!

Honestly this may be my favorite picture - you know how small those little petting zoo pens are, you see that there is NOT an animal near Pierce & he's looking up like "Where did everyone go?"

Kaiden's Slightly Subdued Petting Zoo Experience

Kaiden, although he does love animals, he much prefers them from a distance and he's more akin to hisFlik kitty then say a donkey!!  Grampa Dave headed on in with Kaiden first while Pierce was busy being mesmerized by a passing train, so my Dad thought it would be a treat for Kaiden to get to feed the animals so he bought the little cup of animal feed AND let Kaiden hold the whole thing - oh boy, how quickly Grampa realized that wasn't the smartest of ideas!!  The first curious goat that approached Kaiden for a nibble, Kaiden chcuked the whole whole cup in the opposite direction so the goat would NOT slobber on him!!  Yeah, that's right, Kaiden wasn't worried about being bitten or attacked, he did not want to get slobber on him, we all have our quirks right!?  And not at all surprising was the fact that Kaiden's favorite animals in there were the quiet bunny rabbits in the cage!!  Seems about right!

Look close, there is the only shot we got of the cup of food!

He did great with the quiet little bunnies!

HA, he's not actually in the cage, but he would of gladly climbed in IF I would have let him!

Keeping a watchful eye on that pony!

NOT sure why this sheep is getting so close to his face - he's hilarious!!

A great day really was had by all!!  At some point I have some videos I'd like to get up and maybe get a few photos from the ones my Dad took, but for now all I can say is if you have little ones who like trains & you are looking for a nice way to spend a day check out the Day Out With Thomas schedule & go do it up for yourselves, I do not think you will be disappointed!