Kaden Day
So the first ever annual "Kaden Day" was a rousing success. I told him on the way home from Mass that Mommy and Dedah had a surprise for him, and he ran into the house asking Dan what it was. So I told him, "Today is a very special day. It's Kaden Day! It's a day just for you. And we're going to go to a special museum and see Thomas the Tank Engine! Do you want to ride on Thomas?" And he got SUPER EXCITED and started squealing, waving his hands and dancing around the room.
The Railway Museum is out in Union, about an hour west. It's all outdoor, which I wasn't expecting. Thankfully the weather held. It was cloudy and grey all day (except the sun oh so kindly broke through while we were sweltering in a field waiting to board Thomas' coaches. Joy.) and relatively cool, or I think I would have fainted. As it was I really had a hard time with all the walking around and waiting in line. It was ridiculously crowded, naturally. I mean, I got these tickets back the first week of August and the only ones left were for 2:30 on the last day of Thomas' visit.
Kaden loved everything. We got there and he waved to Thomas pulling the coaches and wanted to go on them right away. We explained about our tickets having a certain time and told him we were going to see some other trains first. For the next three hours he was very interested in whatever we were doing, but continually asked if we were going to go ride on Thomas now. And Dan and I kept saying, "Not yet." They had several barns lined up along the main walk with various train cars in each one. We walked through a 1930s passenger/sleeper coach restored to its original look, which was very cool. Kaden climbed into a locomotive and pretended to drive it, then we walked through and saw the big engine and other mechanical components. I stood in line at the burger stand while Dan took Kaden on a trolley ride, then we had a horrible lunch that Dan insists was fine. We persuaded Doob to eat 1/2 a corn dog, but didn't push it.
We saw a restored luxury train car from the 50s that was just beautiful, with stained glass windows and a gold painted ceiling, plush seats, you name it. The plaquard said it had been retired in the mid 70s and used as a home, which was why it wasn't destroyed like most of the luxury passenger cars. They had a model railway with flashing lights at the crosswalks and a miniature Thomas with Annie and Clarabel, and a turntable that the engineer behind the table was operating for the crowd's delight.
Finally it was time to ride on Thomas! We went to the abovementioned field, where I had to sit down because I was so hot and tired. The Thomas engine was everything I hoped it would be. He looked exactly like Thomas, with the face and everything. His eyes even moved when he was pulling the coaches and he puffed steam out of his smokestack. Doob was completely enamoured even though by this time he was as tired as I was and barely smiled when we boarded and started moving. Thomas pulled us (with a great deal of help from a huge locomotive hooked to the back of the coaches!) on a 15 minute ride down the track and back. We saw cornfields and a real frieght train going by on another track. A clown came down the aisle and tried to get Kaden to shake his hand, but settled for a half smile since Doob wasn't about to touch a stranger in a yellow wig and a bright red nose. :) They passed out little certificates declaring that CHILD'S NAME was now a certified Jr. Engineer, signed by Sir Topham Hatt. Then we got off the train and I was like, take. me. home. now. I'm going to die.
Doob was so tired Dan had to carry him, and he was draped over his shoulder like a fur stole or something, and yet he kept insisting he wasn't tired, he wanted to go see the model railway again, he wanted to go for a ride on another train, etc etc etc. He fell asleep about 5 minutes into our car trip home.
The rest of the day went very well. He got right into the spirit of the day and kept saying things like "You'll read me a story now because it's Kaden Day!" Dan took him to the park on his tricycle while I took a much needed nap. We ordered pizza for dinner, but he decided he wanted another peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. Nana and Nunu came back from their boat trip around 8 and came over to see him, which thrilled him, of course. He went to bed asking, "Is it still Kaden Day?"
And first thing this morning he said "Can we go back to see the trains and the train moosy-eum?" I told him that Thomas came from Sodor just for Kaden Day, so he woudln't be there anymore, but we could go back sometime and see the other trains and the model railway.
I don't have pictures for you because the Doob has hidden the camera. He didn't want my mom to look at the pictures from the day, for whatever reason. And of course he doesn't remember where he put the camera. I should have paid more attention last night when he took the camera away from my mom and then said, "I put it away." I should have KNOWN he didn't really put it away, as in put it where it belonged. I hope to God we find it soon. Urgh. Where could he have put it?
The Railway Museum is out in Union, about an hour west. It's all outdoor, which I wasn't expecting. Thankfully the weather held. It was cloudy and grey all day (except the sun oh so kindly broke through while we were sweltering in a field waiting to board Thomas' coaches. Joy.) and relatively cool, or I think I would have fainted. As it was I really had a hard time with all the walking around and waiting in line. It was ridiculously crowded, naturally. I mean, I got these tickets back the first week of August and the only ones left were for 2:30 on the last day of Thomas' visit.
Kaden loved everything. We got there and he waved to Thomas pulling the coaches and wanted to go on them right away. We explained about our tickets having a certain time and told him we were going to see some other trains first. For the next three hours he was very interested in whatever we were doing, but continually asked if we were going to go ride on Thomas now. And Dan and I kept saying, "Not yet." They had several barns lined up along the main walk with various train cars in each one. We walked through a 1930s passenger/sleeper coach restored to its original look, which was very cool. Kaden climbed into a locomotive and pretended to drive it, then we walked through and saw the big engine and other mechanical components. I stood in line at the burger stand while Dan took Kaden on a trolley ride, then we had a horrible lunch that Dan insists was fine. We persuaded Doob to eat 1/2 a corn dog, but didn't push it.
We saw a restored luxury train car from the 50s that was just beautiful, with stained glass windows and a gold painted ceiling, plush seats, you name it. The plaquard said it had been retired in the mid 70s and used as a home, which was why it wasn't destroyed like most of the luxury passenger cars. They had a model railway with flashing lights at the crosswalks and a miniature Thomas with Annie and Clarabel, and a turntable that the engineer behind the table was operating for the crowd's delight.
Finally it was time to ride on Thomas! We went to the abovementioned field, where I had to sit down because I was so hot and tired. The Thomas engine was everything I hoped it would be. He looked exactly like Thomas, with the face and everything. His eyes even moved when he was pulling the coaches and he puffed steam out of his smokestack. Doob was completely enamoured even though by this time he was as tired as I was and barely smiled when we boarded and started moving. Thomas pulled us (with a great deal of help from a huge locomotive hooked to the back of the coaches!) on a 15 minute ride down the track and back. We saw cornfields and a real frieght train going by on another track. A clown came down the aisle and tried to get Kaden to shake his hand, but settled for a half smile since Doob wasn't about to touch a stranger in a yellow wig and a bright red nose. :) They passed out little certificates declaring that CHILD'S NAME was now a certified Jr. Engineer, signed by Sir Topham Hatt. Then we got off the train and I was like, take. me. home. now. I'm going to die.
Doob was so tired Dan had to carry him, and he was draped over his shoulder like a fur stole or something, and yet he kept insisting he wasn't tired, he wanted to go see the model railway again, he wanted to go for a ride on another train, etc etc etc. He fell asleep about 5 minutes into our car trip home.
The rest of the day went very well. He got right into the spirit of the day and kept saying things like "You'll read me a story now because it's Kaden Day!" Dan took him to the park on his tricycle while I took a much needed nap. We ordered pizza for dinner, but he decided he wanted another peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. Nana and Nunu came back from their boat trip around 8 and came over to see him, which thrilled him, of course. He went to bed asking, "Is it still Kaden Day?"
And first thing this morning he said "Can we go back to see the trains and the train moosy-eum?" I told him that Thomas came from Sodor just for Kaden Day, so he woudln't be there anymore, but we could go back sometime and see the other trains and the model railway.
I don't have pictures for you because the Doob has hidden the camera. He didn't want my mom to look at the pictures from the day, for whatever reason. And of course he doesn't remember where he put the camera. I should have paid more attention last night when he took the camera away from my mom and then said, "I put it away." I should have KNOWN he didn't really put it away, as in put it where it belonged. I hope to God we find it soon. Urgh. Where could he have put it?