another day out with thomas

i believe this was about the 4th or 5th year that we have gone to spend a day with thomas the tank engine. in years past we went to greenfield village. last year we decided to try something new and we headed to flint to see him at crossroads village. we were glad that we did as they seemed to have much more to offer than greenfield village so we headed back there again this year.
the whole family, once again, was able to make it except for justin who is in the studio in nashville recording the new album.
the weather was PERFECT for a day walking around the village as it was in the low 70's. by the time we got there, mom, dad, jenn, don and rainah had already been there for a little bit. so we met up with them, got some tattoos, and rode on the rides before going to eat some lunch. dave and jessica went on the carousal with the kids first. talan was pretty excited to go on it until it started moving. that had to have been the fastest moving carousal i have ever seen. and still only about a month after our kings island trip in which talan got pretty freaked out on the witches wheel ride, this ride really freaked him out. dave was standing next to talan's horse but once the ride really got going talan grabbed on to dave and made him hold him the whole ride. it was going so fast dave couldn't let go of the horse to hold talan in a better position so as the ride went on talan kept falling farther and farther down dave. it was a pretty funny sight. of course, once the ride was done he came off saying "fun! fun!" yeah, right! then all of the kids went and rode on the little train and then went to the ferris wheel in which dave rode with them again. again, this was the fastest ferris wheel i have ever seen. and almost immediately talan was up in dave's lap shaking and wanting to get off. but after he got off he once again told us it was fun.
after the rides we headed out of the village and got our lunches from the car. we set up our little picnic area on a hill and ate before we headed back into the village to board our train at 1pm.
at 6 1/2 years old, hayden is still in love with thomas and all things trains. he could sit there looking out the window of a moving train all day if we'd let him! talan seemed to enjoy the ride much more than last year and actually sat for pretty much the whole 45 minute long ride.
we walked around a bit more before jenn, don and rainah left as they were headed to an indoor water park hotel for the nite. but the rest of us stayed for awhile longer while the boys colored, stamped, made bubble art (hayden made bubble art, talan decided to drink the bubbles instead of blowing...funniest face i've ever seen) and finally got their picture taken with thomas.
the whole morning talan kept talking about sir topham hatt. he didn't seem to care nearly as much that he'd be seeing thomas as he cared about seeing "topham hatt!" unfortunately, the line was always quite long to get your picture taken with him and he was only out for a bit before going in for about an hour long break. so we never did actually get up to see him, but he did see him from a distance. he wasn't too pleased about that fact but he did get over it pretty quickly.
after we got our picture taken with thomas we all headed out of the village and drove to fuddruckers for dinner. dave made sure not to order a milkshake there as there was a sonic right next door. we have so many sonic commercials on tv teasing us about the fact that there are no sonics around us (a couple of days later i saw a sign for one that is in commerce). so after we left fuddruckers we headed to sonic for dave's first time and my first time since going to one in miami back in 1993. the blue coconut slush wasn't the most flavorful, but dave's carmel, butterfinger shake was delish!!
we ended up getting stuck in construction and finally made an illegal turnaround so we could actually get somewhere. we finally made it home after a long day and the boys went right to bed.
yet another fun year visiting thomas. and i'm sure we'll be back again next year!

first stop: tattoos!:

rainah had already gotten some tattoos before we got there but didn't want to miss out on the fun while the boys got theirs. so she lifted her shirt and asked the lady to put harold the helicopter on his stomach. what is her mother teaching her?!:


talan and papa watching the carousel:
talan and rainah dragging dave onto the carousel:
he's excited here:

rainah made jessica ride on the small horses that didn't even go up and down:

but not so excited here:


the mini train ride:



the super fast ferris wheel:




they were both looking at the camera?! this may just end up being our christmas card:
thomas pulling in and all of the paparazzi:
ready to go:
shadowy but so cute:



we had to stop at the fire station to let someone off and "take care of a situation" and this dog came out to greet us:
toddler headlock:
the hay maze:



mom was so proud:

hayden is in the background blowing bubbles in a cup. talan had just finished sucking the bubbles from the cup:
how it is supposed to look:
trying to stick his hand down his throat to make the bubble taste go away:
hula hoop bubbles:


waiting to get their picture taken with thomas:



jessica wanted her picture taken with thomas too:
the sonic menu. i will study it so i know what to get next time around: