They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8

For those that aren't hip to those lyrics - it's the Thomas theme.  And this weekend we were definitely as busy as the trains on the island of Sodor.

Andy's cousin Josh, his wife JoAnna, and their sweet son Connor came for a visit and to join us for Day Out with Thomas!  It was so good to see them - we hate that they live 4 hours away in Atlanta b/c Jack & Connor are so cute together.  Especially since Connor shows up at that house and his first words to us are, "Hi Cousin Jack!" So adorable!!!  Needless to say, Jack & Connor had such a blast.  And since they are both into Thomas the Train - this made for a great outing.

Dinner time!  If you can't tell from the disbelief in his face, we just told him he was riding a train tomorrow.

We bought tickets for the 9 am train ride (all the other time slots were filled - Thomas parents are crazy-obsessive in this area.)  For those that have done Day out with Thomas, you know that you buy tickets for a 20 minute train ride, then get to enjoy the many Thomas-related festivities.  The only problem was that it was in Chattanooga so we needed to leave Knoxville at 7 am to get there in time.  I'm not gonna lie, there was a bit of panic as we drove down there at warp speed but we made it and the boys were none the wiser :)

In addition to the awesome Thomas themed activities - there was also a train yard!  Jack was in love.  This look says, "What do you mean I can't drive the train????"

Cousins!!! How cute are they???

The Diesels!  Jackman's heroes.  If villains can be heroes...  Frankly I think admiring the resident mischief-makers is a cue that is Jack more interesting

On the train waiting to take our first ride. :)

Jack was definitely interested in the ride.  But I learned a valuable lesson here.  Unless we are watching it from the outside, he doesn't really know it's a train.  Either way, it's still awesome.

Connor and Josh!

Posing with two of our favorite people - Daddy and Thomas :)

Precious Connor.  I swear this kid has the sweetest, most calm disposition of any toddler I have ever met.  He is a doll.

These are the times I'm so grateful for my little boy :)

The moms and their boys!

 Cousin hug!

Among the many activities at DOWT was a bounce house.

A pretty impressive petting zoo.

Goat kisses.

Llama face!

"Tell me if you've heard this one.  A goat, a sheep, and a cow walk into a bar..."

 They even had chickens.  Or is that a rooster.  I'm not sure.  Poultry nonetheless.

 And a donkey!  Or a horse.  Man I need to study up on my livestock.

Bubble party!

They even had a putt putt.

Jack got his first hole in one!  Under his Daddy's tutelage of course.

Connor was a pretty darn good golfer as well. :)  I'm not sure though what a Nutcracker has to do with golf but hey, it works!

They also had a tent on in their Imagination Station that had train tables, tattoos, and mega blocks set up for kids to play.  We could have probably left Jack and Connor here for the next 2 hours and they wouldn't have noticed we were gone.  Seriously.

To wrap up the day, we watched a real train derrick lift a 6,000 lb load into the air.  Construction and trains together in action is like seeing the Beatles and the Rolling Stones play the same venue at the same time.  Jack was in awe :)

We stopped for lunch on the way out of town - Jack never made it past the hostess stand :)  It's exhausting meeting your heroes in person!

The rest of the weekend was spent bonding over construction equipment - I love little boys! :)

Thanks to Josh, JoAnna, and Connor for sharing an awesome weekend with us!  Hooray for Thomas and Friends!!!


Here's a cute video of the cousins just cracking each other up.  :)