The Best Day Ever – A Day Out with Thomas the Train

This past weekend, we went to visit my family in Maryland for A Day Out with Thomas the Train. It was, hands down, Alex’s favorite day of his life.  

The excursion was at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum—this, in its self, would have been enough to make Alex’s day. Combine that with Thomas and he was on overload.

Here we are arriving at the museum. When you walk to the entrance, you pass all of these old train cars. 

After we checked in, we got to see even more trains. I was astounded at the sheer size of these trains. The wheels alone were almost as tall as Andy (who is well over six feet tall). 

The Roundhouse. 

This building was stunning—with the light shining through the flags, it just seemed even more magical than it already it was. 

Busza and Alex relaxing before the train ride. 

We got to meet Sir Topham Hatt.  Alex was terrified of him here—he wouldn’t even give him a high five. Later, when the line was huge, he wanted to meet him again (we passed the second time). 

A steam engine—Alex was super impressed.

Of course, a red caboose. 

And, finally, we get to see Thomas! Thomas’ mouth moved when he spoke—it was actually rather remarkable. What an amazing experience for a child (and, it was pretty awesome for us too!).

Alex was so excited to ride the train!

The conductor came to stamp Alex’s tickets. They did a bang up job on the authenticity. 

And, we are off! He was waving to the people watching Thomas go by.

Alex and my dad got Junior Engineer certificates (signed by Sir Topham Hatt).

Unbeknownst to us, the museum is located in, and the train actually goes through, a rather rough section of Baltimore. The train had police escorts on motorcycles—we thought it was for the amusement of the children. Nope. It was because it is, supposedly, that bad of a neighborhood. We were all sort of glad we didn’t realize this at the time. Every review I read afterwards said that, although the surrounding neighborhood can be dangerous, the museum itself is completely safe—just use their parking and don’t park on the street. 

With the train ride over, we went to get our photos taken with Thomas. 

The masterminds behind the whole excursion!

The museum also had really impressive model trains (with Thomas and Percy)—Alex loved them!

Included in the ticket was access to an amusement park for toddlers. We started off on the carousel.

While Alex was riding the carousel, Busza was waiting in line at the mini train. Maybe his favorite ride of the day.  

After the mini train ride, we went to get pretzels and visit the bubbles and chalk station. 

Then, we discovered the tattoo tent! We went a little crazy and we all (except Andy) got in on the action. 

They had playground equipment that was like a train (the slide was the front of the steam engine). 

A close second for favorite ride of the carnival was the Happy Train. It had little seats on the wheels of the train and went around in circles. We rode this one (and the mini blue train) twice. 

Hands up!

At the end of the day, we had one tired little boy!

When we walked back to the car, we got to see Thomas leaving the station and we all waved goodbye. It was the perfect end to a perfect outing. 

Thanks, Busza and Grandpa, for making this happen!!!

Visit to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

While in DC, we went to the National Zoo to see the new baby panda (which we only saw sleeping on a TV screen). But, we were able to see a variety of other animals—Alex was really excited to see many of these animals. 

I, on the other hand, was a little sad seeing them, as some of these animals were pacing. I know that kids love zoos and I do want to expose Alex to exotic animals, but there is a part of me that is sad going to the zoo. I don’t think that every zoo is bad, but I do need to be careful in which zoos I show to Alex.

Despite the pacing, the National Zoo is widely recognized as a humane zoo—actually, one of the best in the United States. They collaborate with many other groups on research initiatives and conservation, and are consistently given good marks for the humane treatment of animals.   

We started off at the pandas and then went to the small mammals building, as it was raining and we wanted to seek shelter. 

We then went to see the gorillas and orangutans.

We ended the trip to the zoo with some popcorn (and milk).  

Joey’s Park: The Best Playground Ever (Boston area)

When we were in Massachusetts for Easter, we went to a playground in Belmont called Joey’sPark. It was the best playground we have ever been to—they have everything: a zipline, a seesaw, a merry-go-round, slides, tires, climbing walls, a stage, etc. 

Many parents may have read The Atlantic’s recent article “The Overprotected Child”.  Andy and I both read it and it definitely struck a chord with us. We would love to have Alex have a greater sense of freedom, a greater sense of adventure, but we also want to provide him a safe way to do that.

What we liked about this park was that it seemed to offer just that: freedom and adventure coupled with safety. The park offers a diverse array of options—many similar to our own childhoods—but these elements were modernized. For example, the steep slides had incredibly high walls; after Alex fell five-feet from a slide and landed on his back (and was rushed to urgent care—he is fine, by the way), I really appreciated the safety of these slides. The one twisty slide in the park was actually a tunnel, so it was impossible to fall out.

The ground was soft and covered with wood chips. When Alex fell from the zipline, he bounced right back. Interestingly, much of the equipment in this park came from Europe, and the park featured in The Atlantic article was in the U.K.

 

Our dance routine on the stage—our audience is completely captivated. 

The seesaw—I rode this with Eva and there was no chance she was flying off, despite our incredible weight discrepancies. 

The updated merry-go-round. 

Henry had to check out the slide first. 

  She is the queen of the swings!

The zipline – 1^st and 2^nd attempts. 

We absolutely loved this park and I highly recommend that all my Boston-area friends check it out!