We have been living an obsessive live revolving around trains! We've been riding them, reading about them, constructing tracks in the living room, pushing them around the dining room table, looking for them as we drive around town, and if he hasn't already, I bet Einar is dreaming about them tonight. "Choo Choo!" is a commonly heard refrain in this house and the Thomas books have even been beating out the Bob the Builder books in the past few weeks.
Today we had the ultimate adventure when we went to Perris, Ca (Just over an hour east of San Clemente) and took part in the Day out With Thomas Festivities at the Orange Empire Train Museum. To begin with, it is November 19th and it was in the Nineties--it felt like summer! It was an outdoor train museum with lots of operating tracks. Thomas and his cars were on one track and there were several trolley busses giving people rides elsewhere. One of the first things we did before getting in the Thomas line for our scheduled ride was run into some really friendly EMTs who talked with the kids, gave them Thomas temorary tattoos and then let them sit in the ambulance. One of the guys even turned on the lights for the kids. Einar and I carpooled with the Cobb family and we had met up with a few other families from our MOMS Club. Then Einar found a little yellow trolley that he kept climbing into and just sitting in until I took him out.
The ride on Thomas was about 25 minutes long and just out and back on a fairly straight track. We also had lunch there--corn on the cob, Gyros and french fries. I have never seen more Thomas and Friends hats, t-shirts and pants EVER! And most of them looked well-worn and loved by the kids that were wearing them--unlike when you go to a concert and everyone is walking around in new concert t-shirts. After the ride, Einar was wiped, but still ready for anything. He did willingly sit in Nathan's stoller to be pushed around the rest of the time and crash in the car after a bit of a snack for the ride home.
A Day out with Thomas wasn't the only train adventure this week. On Thursday we went to Irvine Regional park where they operate a smaller scale train that we got to ride for about 10 minutes. That was a good ride with lots of scenery and a running commentary from the conductor about the history of the 109-year-old park.
Einar is getting very proficient and putting together his tracks in the living room and playing with his train. How does he figure all of this out?
p.s. I would have taken a few more pictures today, but as you can see from one of the pictures, my focus was wonky for awhile and I didn't get it took me some time to figure it out.
