The North Exposure: Thomas the Train

As an early birthday present, Emery got a chance to ride Thomas the Train on the weekend before he turned two.

There was no way mommy and daddy could let the opportunity pass...

We gave the conductor our tickets and boarded Thomas.

We picked our seats and were excited for the ride!

Luckily for Emery, Nonna had bought him a Thomas train the week before at TJMaxx. It's a story for another day, but suffice it to say, Nonna is helping Emery to learn that crying and saying "TRAIN!" through tears while waiting in line to check out is a great way to take one home if your grandma is with you.

Lots of kids there had Thomas memorabilia. And luckily for mommy and daddy, we remembered to bring the train with us. Emery was happy to have it and we saved $30 at the huge gift shop today by coming prepared!

And we were off on a 28 minute train ride, complete with Thomas music blasting on the speakers.

Riding on trains makes Ruby a hungry girl.

She was more than pleased to have her bottle.

It couldn't have been a nicer day.

There were lots of smiles.

The conductor came by and gave each of the children a Jr. Engineer certificate.

Emery said "sank you" when he was handed his. Melts my heart!

After completing the long journey 14 minutes one way and 14 minutes back,we pulled back into the station and then walked around the different booths outside. Ruby was content in the stroller, as always.

And Emery was content to see Sir Topham Hatt from a distance. Unlike this excited little guy, we didn't have to stand in a really long line. Maybe next year?

By far the second favorite activity of the day was playing the drums with Steve Gryb, The Pied Piper of Percussion. "Wipe Out" was quite a hit with the 2 year old crowd.