A Day Out With Thomas the Train

Let me start by saying if you told me 10 years ago I'd be pretty darn excited to drive two hours to see a train and drive two hours home I would have laughed, no cackled in your face and drank another beer. But here we are today, and I was so excited to take the kids to see Thomas. It was well worth the trip.

The Transportation Museum of North Carolina in Spencer, NC held the Thomas event this weekend (and next). It was actually pretty cool. We got the opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt and Bob the Builder. I say opportunity because we didn't really see them. We missed it every time, but at least we had the chance! We did get a 20 minute ride with a full size Thomas the Tank Engine which was the highlight of the day. Could even be the highlight of Austin's life at this point.

We started on a trek to see Bob the Builder but he was taking a break. Uh huh. So so got to see a massive amount of train sets going all at once.

Austin just taking it all in.

 Madleiene and Austin climbed to the top of the train for a wave

And who doesn't love a tattoo! Or as Austin calls them...tappoos. 

The man of the hour - Thomas the Tank Engine

All Aboard!

And we were pretty pooped after that.

Thomas B. Hagan 1957-2009

We'll miss you T.

Thank you for teaching me to tie my shoes. Thank you for "connecting the dots" with my freckles. Thank you for being one cool uncle.

Age 51, of Crafton, passed away peacefully on Thurs., Sept. 17, 2009 after a hard-fought battle with Melanoma. Beloved husband of Priscilla A. Hagan. Wonderful father of Jacob Hagan, Julia (John) Praskavich, and Joy Hagan. Super step-father of Ben and Alana Gergerich. Pap Pap of Klaus. Brother of Marie Santone, Robert (Lynn) Hagan, Dorothy Black, Martin (Susan) Hagan, Kate (Dan) Parish, Dan (Deb) Hagan, Beth (Rick) Fisher and Mick (Karen) Hagan.

Memorial contributions may be made to The First Tee at www.thefirsttee.org.

Soccer and Braids

This was a big week. First week of the new soccer season and first week of the dance season. Austin had two long and dreadful (for me) seasons of "parent/child" soccer and this was his first plain old "child" class. He loved it WAY more than I was expecting. He honestly is a natural at soccer. He is really, really good at it (honestly, I would say so if he wasn't!). But I suck because I forgot my real camera and only have crappy phone pics. Next time I won't forget. These photos are pretty blurry but it's because 1) they were taken by a stinky iPhone and 2) Austin was moving at the speed of lightening. But you can still see the smiles!

And Madeleine has started her first real session of dance. It's almost a year long and ends with a recital in May. This is going to be a big deal. She LOVES it to say the very least. Way more than loves it. Loves, loves it. And as a result, so do I. But I suck even worse this time and took NO pictures. So instead, here is a picture of her with her new cute braids.

Another Big Yellow Envelope

The ever popular big yellow envelope with gifts from Grammie King arrived last week. 

Monkey's with candy. What could be better??

First Day of School

After a busy summer I think we were all glad to be heading back to school and return to a little structure. Madeleine picked out a new outfit, they both wore their new "school shoes", packed their new lunch bags and had great big smiles. 

Madeleine is the "Accessory Queen". Looking at this picture, I'm wondering now if she planned her outfit around her new lunch bag.

Austin picked out a new Transformers lunch box. I'm embarrassed every day I send him to school. Why did I let him get that?? It might have to mysteriously disappear one day soon.

This is Madeleine's last year of preschool, she'll be starting year-round kindergarten in July. I cannot even believe it.