A Day With Thomas

Michael's favorite times of the day are spent setting up an imaginary world of trains. The characters of the island of Sodor come to life each with a personality and with real life problems. I love seeing his imagination take shape as he lays tracks all over the house. Well a week and half ago I got to thinking about the "Day out with Thomas" tour and decided to look on the internet for a close stop. God's timing in all of this was that the train was coming near for the next two weekends. I tried to purchase tickets on line and on the phone, but they were sold out. My only hope was to pray they would have some to purchase as the station. Matt and I still wanted to take the kids but we did not want to reveal where we were going. So today was a wonderful fall day full of surprises.
We woke the kids up at 0600 to head out to Cumberland, MD for a surprise visit to the Island of Sodor. With no advance warning for them. Matt and I wanted to make meeting and riding on Thomas a magical experience. As we got closer to Cumberland, I announced seeing a sign that said we were 6 miles from Sodor and Tidmouth Station. Maddie and Michael imagined seeing steam from the trains and began in imagine all the sights of Thomas' world.
We arrived at the station a quarter to nine and could see Thomas up on the platform. Michael was beside himself in excitement. I ran to see if I could get tickets. Praying all the while, I was pleased to hear that there were tickets for every ride. We were set to board at 10am. We spent some time looking around at the other events of the day. Our first stop was the story hour. Before we knew it, it was time to meet Thomas. Lots of little ones, mostly boys, eager to get up and personal with the lifesized version of their favorite toy. The trip was about 20 minutes and then it was pictures in front of the "Really Useful Engine." One of the great highlights was Michael's meeting with Sir Topham Hatt. What the pictures did not capture was the huge hug he gave the larger than life character. After we took in all the events, we headed to the car for a picnic lunch. The weather was perfect, the memories will be lasting and I hope that for Michael a little childhood magic was fused into his already rich imagination of Thomas and his friends.