The Lee Family: Thomas Train

Yesterday we went to ride on Thomas Train in Grapevine, which we've done every year for the past three. It's always been one of Sofia's very favorite things to do and this year I never even told her our plans on going since I wanted to see her reaction on the day of our ride. She doesn't really play with her trains or read train books anymore, so I know her love of trains have been replaced by horses (and other things), but thought it would be fun. Plus, Sofia is one who always has fun doing stuff. We decided to go with our neighbors, Marco and Stacy and their 2-year old Antonio and six week old, Luca. I figured it would be a lot more fun to go with someone who loves trains now. We originally planned to go on Saturday afternoon, after Sofia's soccer game, but by the time I looked into it the tickets were sold out. So, after Meeting we zoomed over to Grapevine and meet our friends about 45-minutes before we boarded the train. Sofia was really excited to go and ride on Thomas, and to get the train 'tattoos.' We decided to grab a corn dog since we were all hungry. After eating, we got into line to board the train.

We road the train and had fun listening to Thomas Train music while we made our way through the road construction and watched airplanes go toward DFW to land. Once we made it back to the depot, we walked around and decided to go to the train tables to play for a bit before we headed home. Sofia and Antonio found trains at different tables and were playing while Olivia watched right next to Antonio. She was mesmerized although there weren't enough trains for her to play with one so she was happy to watch. After a few minutes, I turned and asked Marco about Luca and when I looked back Olivia wasn't at the table. At first, I assumed she moved to another table and was maybe with Sofia. However, I didn't see her there and started to get a little worried. I saw CK on the far side of the tent looking down so assumed he was watching her. I called over to him and he said he hadn't seen her at all. Now I was very worried! I started running around the tent looking at all the tables and even under a long table that had a cloth on it. No sign of Olivia! I was in full panic now! CK was looking at the far end of the tent to be sure she hadn't gone toward the train line. I started fanning out from the tent and luckily a woman asked me what she was wearing. Olivia was wearing a pretty distinctive dress which I described and continued looking for her. After another minute a man came up to me and said "Is that her over there?" and pointed to our little girl on the stairs walking up and down. A man was there with his older kids and he said "She's been here a few minutes and I wasn't going to go anywhere until I figured out who she belonged to." I was so thankful and scared at the same time that I nearly collapsed! I grabbed Olivia and hugged her tight and was so thankful she was in my arms! We made it back to the train tables to show those who'd helped that we'd found her before we left. So, Thomas Train was very eventful but not as we expected! Sofia had a great time, even if it wasn't quite as magical as in years past.

Waiting in line. Marco with Luca, CK and Olivia