A Day Out With Thomas

For those of you who don't know, we live in Snoqualmie and there is the Northwest Railway Museum in town. It is kind of like our playground. Max and I or Max and Daddy often walk there to play and climb on some of the trains. Well this past weekend we had the best play date ever!

Thomas the Tank Engine was in town!

We bought our tickets about 6 weeks ago and watched them stuck to the fridge, counting down the days. Of course, Maxwell didn't really get what we were talking about when we first told him about riding Thomas. So we just stopped talking about it, but Terry and I just kept getting more and more excited. We wondered how Max would react when he first saw Thomas!

Well, we cheated! We knew that Thomas would have to be shunted to the museum sometime on Thursday so Max and Daddy walked over after Max's nap and checked him out up close and personal. Of course there was a cover over Thomas's face, but Max knew exactly who he was. So we patiently waited another 2 days until it was our turn for A Day Out With Thomas!

 While waiting to board the train there was a clown. She and Max had a stare down contest. Max wasn't to sure about her, but she did give him a Thomas sticker. So she couldn't be all that bad.

Here we are waiting in line to board the train. Max isn't quite sure what we are doing he just likes being on daddies shoulders.

 This is us right after getting on the train.

 Daddy being crafty with the camera out the window.

Max waving as we got underway. He was pretty excited.

The train goes toward Snoqualmie Falls and it was amazing to see it up close. Right now they are replacing the 100 year old turbines, from the electrical power generator, so Max got a double treat. He got to watch the big loaders, diggers and crane move stuff around. The view of the falls is pretty obstructed by all the trees, but at one point there was a clear shot of the Snoqualmie River.

 Absolutely breathtaking! My picture does not do it justice.

 Along the side of the railway there were a few old tracks stacked up. It was kind of sad to see how quickly we forget how important the railroad used to be.

This is one of the original buildings on the site of the Snoqualmie Falls electrical facility. It was great to see the history behind our town.

But back to Max and the Thomas train. After we disembarked we stopped for pictures with Thomas and even got to ride a motor coach. It was super fun!

This was a professional shot that we just had to buy. Look at Max's smile! Does it get any better?

After the train ride we let Max play with the train tables they had set up. Since we got our hand-me-down train table at home, Max has not stopped playing with it. He knew exactly what to do here.

 Max doesn't care that he did not have one of the engines, he was content to play with any of the cargo cars or buses.

He probably would have stayed and played all day long!

The next few shots impressed both Terry and myself at Max's aptitude.

 What is kind of unclear in this picture is Max's hand on the crank of Cranky. There is a hook and string and Max is winding it up with his hand.

 Terry and I were shocked when we first saw Max do this, shocked and proud! Is it advanced for his age? I don't know, but it gets better.

Here he is turning the turntable crank on the Tidmouth Shed train table.

We had a great day! We enjoyed every minute of it! We might even have to do it again next year it was so much fun. We will just have to see if he still loves Thomas as much as he does now.