A Day Out with Thomas & Percy

On Saturday we took Grant to the Day Out with Thomas event at the Transportation Museum. Since we did this last year at Tweetsie Railroad, we thought it might be fun to check it out at a different location. When I went online to get tickets, I saw that you could buy tickets that included a ride with Percy too and as a friend put it...if you're going to drive all that way, you may as well ride Percy too. 

As soon as we got there, Percy was pulling into the station after a ride.

I was so focused on making sure we got there in time for our ride with Thomas...it never occurred to me to check our Percy time. So we got there...saw Percy...took some pictures...and then I found an employee to just find out what we needed to do. She checked our tickets and pointed out that our Percy ride was in 10 minutes!  So we boarded right then. 

So excited :)

It turns out that Percy was pulling the caboose train, which didn't offer much for sight seeing (tiny windows) but Grant really didn't care. He just wanted to ride the train.

At one point along the ride, our guide told us that we would be passing Thomas. Unfortunately we weren't sitting on that side. But the man and his son on the other side of the train offered for us to go over and share their window. He didn't have to ask twice. Grant was over there in two seconds.

I sort of wondered if the man had regretted his offer
because Grant talked their ears off (they were very nice).

The man also pointed out this "911 train" which became
Grant's obsession for the rest of the ride.

Immediately following our Percy ride we had to check in quick to get our wristbands and then head over to the line for our Thomas ride. 

There he is!

And he's pulling all those cars (with some help, of course)

The line moved quick and they were pretty organized. And we somehow got seated in the car right behind Thomas. When we walked into the car Grant said "I can see Thomas' skin!"

Excited to ride with Thomas!

The boy loves a map.

I just love how happy he is :)

So right before the ride starts the guide tells us that we have help Thomas by yelling "All aboard!" So everyone did...and then Thomas blows his whistle...

Grant was excited about hearing Thomas' whistle!

This ride offered better views from bigger windows. They take you back and forth on the tracks in front of the museum.

The roundhouse.

Some other trains out on the tracks.

They told us Percy would be passing us soon.

Hi Percy!

Waving to the people.

He had no desire to wait in line to have his picture
taken with Thomas, this was as close as we got
(behind him is part of line for pictures).

After that, Grant just wanted to check out the museum (convenient, because we did too).

They had a firetruck on display for the kids to check out.

What kid doesn't want to wear a real fireman's helmet?

The Transportation Museum is a really neat place. We had talked about going but this was our first time. So many great buildings filled with great stuff!

One building was just for model trains and all the little things that go with the model trains. There were so many buttons for the kids to push so they could watch all the little models do things! I'm pretty sure Grant pressed every single one.

They had a little Thomas too but I didn't get a
good picture of it.

One building had old cars in it.

The building I was most excited about looked like it was undergoing some repairs so most of it was restricted inside. It was the building that had all the old firetrucks in it (and a plane that Grant could see through the window).

After that, it was on to the roundhouse to check out more trains! So much neat stuff at this place!

From here you can see the turntable that you can ride. Of course,
we had to do that but it was raining so I didn't take pictures.

And we got to see Thomas on one of his last rides of the day.

After that, it was time to start heading back to the car but not before stopping so Grant could run through the hay maze.

I didn't realize how big this place was until we got there. If I had, I would have planned better because we didn't get to see everything. We'll definitely be making plans to go back!

Grant & Mama Day #2

Earlier this year I took a random day off to have Grant & Mama Day. We went to Durham and had a great day together. At some point in the last month or so I got thinking that we needed another one of those days and I decided on Veteran's Day since I would be off anyway. This time we just stayed around Raleigh.

We started our day downtown at the Museum of Natural Sciences. Grant loves that museum but goes nuts for the dinosaur bones. And in their Nature Research Center, there is an aquarium that, among other fish, has a "hammerhead shark". I can't remember the actual name of the shark and it does look similar to a hammerhead but it's not. However, you try convincing a 4 year old that it's not. 

Checking out some fishes

More fishes

And the whale bones

He really liked that big turtle!

Dinosaur bones!

It wasn't crowded at all yesterday, great
day to visit!

Me & my guy :)

The plan was to hit the History Museum after the Science Museum because they have a couple race cars that Grant really wanted to see. But they were closed (note to self: check on these things before you show up). But it was pretty much lunch time and the boy who ate a huge ham & cheese omelet for breakfast was hungry already so we went to Panera for lunch.

Hulk Smash lunch date!
Such a perfect day to sit outside.

And in a moment of selfishness, I decided we should quickly stop at Old Navy after lunch because I knew they were having a sale. It was a productive stop and Grant had a blast trying on hats.

Somehow he's become a Star Wars fan and he
thought this hat was so fun (but, no, he didn't get it!)

After that, it was on to Pullen Park for some outdoor fun. We don't go to this park often so I knew it would be a fun little treat for Grant. It's a really pretty park and they've got a nice playground area, kiddie boats, a carousel, paddle boats, and a TRAIN. We rode the train as soon as we got there, with Grant telling me the whole time "This is really fun!". He expelled some energy on the playground, rode the kiddie boats, and then we wandered around the park for a bit before riding the train one more time and heading out.

Not having had a nap at all at this point, Grant was very tired and he got a little whiney when we left the park. He asked him if Grant & Mama Day was over (we were heading home because I had to get dinner started). I told him it wasn't but that we had to get going. He just about started to cry when he told me "I don't want Grant & Mama Day to be over!" We had one more stop to make, a quick stop at Target (is it ever a quick stop there??) so I told him to take a little nap. But he wasn't tired!

Right. I've heard that one before!

There's a Chick-Fil-A right next to Target and it was still relatively early in the afternoon. Since I had to wake him up anyway, I stopped at Chick-Fil-A and surprised Grant with some ice cream. Then Target. Where we got what we needed, and what we didn't need, and had a blast trying on their silly Christmas stuff.

He was still so tired that he was going into fits
of giggles over these funny glasses!

By the time we got home, I don't know which one of us was more tired (though only one of us would admit it) but we had such a great day together!

Halloween 2014

This year I was determined to not let Halloween sneak up on me. This year I said "Who cares about the Fair, I'm going to do fun Halloween baking!" This year I was going to decorate early and carve a pumpkin and all that.

And it snuck up on me anyway. And I did very little fun Halloween baking. I did decorate but it was very little and it was the day of Halloween. But Grant was just so excited about Halloween this year that I couldn't help but be excited too. I wanted to make it a great Halloween for him this year. So I took the day off (I needed one anyway!) but Grant went to school most of the day for his class Halloween party and they trick-or-treat around the classrooms. I spent the day running a couple errands and then getting a "spooky dinner" ready for that evening (and cleaning because I invited my in-laws to come).

Grant has never been trick-or-treating with a lot of other kids. Our neighborhood doesn't have many small kids and very few houses participate on Halloween so usually it's just us walking around the neighborhood. This year I wanted to take him to a local event at a park called Trick-or-Treat the Trails. Local businesses and what-not set up booths at the park and the kids trick-or-treat along the walking path. I picked Grant up early from school and took him straight there. SO MUCH FUN! I've wanted to go for a couple year and never make it. This year I was determined and I'm so glad. Obviously getting treats (and all kinds of other stuff) was great, but Grant had the best time looking at the other costumes and seeing all the people. 

Ready to hit the trails!

Some had their booth decorated and wore costumes. If we go
to this next year (and I plan to) I'm totally dressing up!

Grant loved that local fire departments & EMS people had
their vehicles out there!

When we got in the car he told me "That was so fun!" It made me even happier that I got to take him. We were in a bit of rush to get home because I had a few things to do for a our spooky dinner but I told Grant that I did have time to decorate a little. When we got home and he saw my decorations (very meager decorations) he gasped and said "Mama I love it! Those are awesome decorations!" It's the little things, right?

Our "spooky dinner" consisted of Witches Brooms (string cheese with pretzels), Mummy Dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent dough), Zombie Eyeballs (meatballs), Bat Wing Pizza (pizza with bat shapes cut out of cheese), spinach dip, chips, and some cookie bars for dessert. A little silly perhaps, but so fun to see a 4 year old's face light up when you tell him he's having Zombie Eyeballs for dinner :)

And Grant got to pass out candy to one of our three trick-or-treaters (not kidding, we have a lot of leftover candy) before heading out to trick-or-treat at the five houses that had their lights on.

Ready for more goodies!

He told us he wanted to go by himself.

This house was his favorite!

And he even got treats from Gramma & Grandpa when we got back!

We finished off the night with some Pumpkin Floats (orange soda - caffeine free! - with vanilla ice cream).

I know this year was the best time Grant has had trick-or-treating and he loved being Optimus Prime. It was a pretty great Halloween!