Our Day Out With Thomas - NOT!!!

Tim and I took the boys to A Day Out With Thomas this past Sunday - and it was a complete FLOP! Yes, you read it F-L-O-P! We had decided that we'd surprise the boys so we told them we were going on an adveture on Sunday morning but that where we were going was a surprise. Okay....so they both seemed fine with it. We had a 45 minute drive to where DOWT was being held and the whole way there they seemed fine. Nothing too out of the ordinary other than it was a bit longer of a drive than we normally have to do to get somewhere to do something.

We got there and Tim dropped Jack and I off at the entrance and took Mason to park the car. Jack and I walked towards the entrance and I said "Do you know what we're going to get to do?" and he said "No" so I showed him one of the signs on the fence and said "Do you know who that is?" and he said "Thomas" and I said "That's right, it's Thomas. We're going to get to go for a ride on Thomas!" To which he proceeded to freak out and scream at the top of his lungs in tears "I want to go home! I don't want to ride on Thomas!". I figured that he was just a bit aprehensive about it but that as soon as he saw the train and Tim and Mason joined us he'd calm down and we'd be fine.

WRONG! Tim and Mason found us waiting at a seating area infront of the entertainment stage and he was still wigging out on me. He had at one point actually hit me as he was hysterically yelling "I want to go home! I don't want to go for a ride on Thomas!". They made the announcement over the PA that they were boarding our train so we walked towards the boarding line as Jack screamed at the top of his lungs the whole way there (by this time I was carrying him) as other parents looked at me like I was pulling my childs fingernails out one by one.

We proceeded to walk through the line, with Jack screaming the whole way until it was our turn to get on the train. He only screamed louder as we got closer so I just looked at Tim and said "Fine, you take Mason and I'll stay here with Jack!" but Tim said that he thought that I should take Mason since he'd want me anyway and that he'd stay with Jack so we swapped children. As I walked towards the train with Mason and said "You and Mommy will go for a ride on Thomas then, okay?" I looked at him to see him say yes to me only to find him starting to cry as well - I think trying to figure out for himeself what he was about to do and maybe Jack knew something that Mason diddn't know.

So..................$96 later........we left with ONE THOMAS TATTOO on Mason's hand and lots of parents looking at us like we had 12 heads! As we walked to the car we had people very nicely ask the boys "Did you have fun?" only to have Tim and I shake our heads No with the smirk of two very disappointed parents.

Who would have thought that a simple train ride could have caused such an uproar and freak a child out? From now on, Tim and I have decided that we're not springing surprises on the boys and that we're talking up things with them as much as we possibly can to avoid any further disasters in our family fun outings.

Talk about bursting Mommy's bubble! I had been SO excited about this as I know so many people who have taken their kids and had a blast so I thought we would too - oh well.