Subtitle: Hullo Thomas!

Messy kitchen, piles of laundry, and full grocery bags be damned, I’m going to use the remaining 45 minutes of quiet time to post this blog! Sometimes I think I should have named this blog “The Quiet Time Blogger.”

Sooo… after a fun and exhausting day at Santa’s Village we moseyed on down the road (for about two miles) to a quaint little bed and breakfast. Actually it was a pretty big old house. The kids took about 2.5 seconds to find the toy room with lots of blocks and puzzles and books and VHS cassettes from the 80s. When Alan wondered aloud if he would have to rewind the movie before watching it we all looked at him funny :) We had pizza and pb&j for dinner and everyone passed out by 8:30pm, no showers or bathes, just straight to bed. Lex fell out of bed once, face first onto a hardwood floor. The loud thump woke me right up but he slept right through it. An hour later Eve sat up in bed screaming for mommy, over and over. Alan and I both verbally reassured her while I picked my way around a crowded room and over a row of pillows on the floor (recently placed around Lex’s bed). When I got to her (I’m sure it was less than a minute but it felt like forever!) she was basically screaming in her sleep. I wrapped her up in my arms and laid her down and she kept on sleeping. Neither kid remembers that either.

We woke up a 6am the next morning feeling refreshed (only a little sarcasm there) and ready for another busy day. The kids were thrilled to eat Froot Loops for breakfast and Lex only cried a little when I told him he could not have a cookie (fresh baked when we arrived the night before, and I resisted, how’s that for will-power!) on the side with his cereal. Then we took showers and packed up and went back downstairs for the official B&B breakfast of scrambled eggs, french toast (blueberry stuffed for the boys), banana muffins and juice. I ate over half my points at breakfast alone but I felt guilty saying no since she had cooked this big meal just for us and one other family. It was delicious!

Eve and Alan play a quick game of chess before breakfast (well, between breakfast one and breakfast two!)

Then we headed out for another spectacular drive through the White Mountains and a fun-filled day with Thomas the Train. Apparently Sir Topham Hatt makes an annual visit to the US to discuss train stuff with American train people (I wasn’t paying close attention to the story, sorry) and this year he decided to bring Thomas along as a reward for being such a Very Useful Engine. This year and every year. The kids were thrilled!

The event is held at the North Conway train station so there were regular passenger trains coming and going all day as well. There’s also an awesome miniature train setup there on permanent display and various other trains and engines and things to look at. Special for this event they had a food tent, an “Imagination Station” tent which consisted of crafty train related projects, face painting, tattoos, coloring, blocks, and several wooden train tables set up. They also had a bouncy house, a hay bale maze, and, most importantly, the gift tent. Guess where the kids kept asking to go back to. We told them they could each pick out one souvenir at the end of the day, but we ended up in the tent several times while they browsed.

I pay good money for theme parks and train rides and all these kids really need is a good tree to run around :)

The moment they've been waiting for... Peep, peep! Hullo Thomas!

This is an awesome model train display.

This is a model of the station we were at. The girl in the bottom, right corner is holding up a sign that says "You are here." Such a cute detail.

This is the real turn table. The platform (on the right) turns on a small pivot point in the middle and the long rail around the edge of the circle. Impressive.

Sir Topham Hatt was weird. I think they should have found a rotund bald guy, instead they went with the mascot look. The kids had no interest in standing near him and Eve got upset because he didn't return her wave from afar. I don't think he could see much through that mask!

We had 2:30 train tickets, but by around 1:30 Eve was tired and ready to be done. Here she is on an old engine, watching the 1:45 Thomas train leaving the station. She really, really wanted to be on that train. Then we saw her friend from school on the train and she was even sadder not to be on it. Poor tired girl.

To cheer her up we went over to the Imagination Station. Lex chose to bounce in the bouncy house (and get super sweaty!) while Eve opted for some face painting. She makes a cute kitty.

They were both hot and sweaty so we parked it by the train tables for the last 20 minutes while we waited for our train ride.

On the way out they decided to have a quick pose with Thomas.

Overall it was a fun day. We were back in the car and heading home by late afternoon. Home in time for dinner and much needed baths.

I see more mini vacations in our future. There’s lots to do in this neck of the woods!