I'm just going to quit making promises I can't keep. Like someday I will wear a bikini or not ever be late anywhere again or I will update this blog on a regular basis. Let's face it....ain't gonna happen. I probably have enough posts rattling around in my head to do one a day for a year, but somehow, when I sit down at the computer to write, I either forget what I sat down for or I get distracted by the little one, the big one or the really big one, like when I was starting this post this morning and Jax accidentally spilled a scoop of dog food all over the kitchen. Or when I thought I would try supervising Hoss while he fed himself Rice Krispies this morning. Mothering Fail.
On a side note, if you ever have 1,865,479 soggy Rice Krispies spilled in your kitchen floor, do not attempt to clean them up with anything other than paper towels. Neither broom, swiffer, dust buster or vacuum are the answer. You just end up having to also clean all of those tools afterwards as well. Grab the paper towels and do your best...you'll still find some dried to your clothes later as you head out the door to pick up the big one from school...so I've heard. And no, there was no crying over spilled milk and Rice Krispies. I held it together quite well, thank you very much. Hoss was super proud of himself and managed make this mess without getting a drop on himself.
I digress. See what I mean? These boys are wearing my attention span down to a nub!
In the last year or so Jax has developed a love for trains. It all started when he and Vinnie went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum with our cousin Rick and Baby Jim (Jax will still be calling him that when he's 25). You can read about that visit here. Then this past spring the same group of guys went to ride Thomas the train. It was planned way in advance. Tickets were ordered online. A beautiful day in May for a train ride! Not. It rained. Let me rephrase that. It poured. Still, only the dad's were miserable. The boys had a blast! See for yourself.
The boys and Thomas the Train
Now boarding...
Jax loved getting to meet Sir Topham
Thumb's Up for Thomas comin' round the bend
Posing with some of the other characters....I apologize for not knowing their names. I can, however, recite almost every Cars and Cars 2 characters in my sleep with both hands tied behind my back.
There are also several other activities for the kiddos to do while waiting on their turn to ride Thomas.
Mine got a tatto and joined a band.
Thomas Ink
Check out the tongue...
Tongue again
Apparently he is an equal opportunity tongue player..doesn't matter the instrument.
He's no Gene Simmons. THANK GOODNESS!
Then this summer, the Lionel Collectors Association had their meeting at the Chatanooga Choo Choo. They had some train displays set up with free admission, so we were there!
Hoss loved it. He couldn't see it from his stroller because he was too low, but once he saw it, we had to keep holding him up because he was pretty carried away with it.
Jax. Was. Mesmerized.
He has a tendency to make friends wherever we go. He will talk to them about anything. Sometimes they don't even listen. We have no idea where he gets it...(Granddaddy? Look at the next picture and draw your own conclusions)
He loved getting to drive this train himself, even though it was just a circle track.
He loved having the power.
This was one of his favorite things, the locomotive that blew REAL steam! He thought it was awesome and that we should have one. Nevermind the fact that these displays were bigger than any room in our house. We should have one.
This was his favorite thing of the whole experience. He is still talking about it. No, it's not a train. It's a big rig pulling a flatbed trailer with an elephant on it. It didn't move, was just part of the train display. The train went under the bridge that the big rig hauling an elephant was on. He didn't care that it didn't move, he just loved it. Guess trucks will always be #1 in his heart. Heaven knows we have every toy big rig ever made!
Boy gathered him up some catalogs, found him a place to sit and started picking out the pieces he wanted for his train set. "Granddaddy can make it fit" seemed to be good enough logic for my question, "where would we put one"? His passion has waned a little. He is no longer wanting a train display the size of our house, but he still talks about that truck with an elephant. So, I suspect that may be in our future at some point.
That's all for now. I'm on borrowed time as it is, I'm sure. I haven't been interrupted once while writing this post, and it's not the middle of the night. That means all 'you know what' has broken loose somewhere else in this house. Come to think of it, they are awfully quiet...
