So Bo’s newest obsession is Thomas the Train. Okay, in all fairness this is not a new obsession it is more like a recently-developed fixation on a somewhat old fascination. He’s always liked Thomas right along with Bob the Builder and Lightning McQueen, but lately this thing for Thomas has taken over - mainly our living room and our family conversations.

The fascination became an overblown fixation when Chip and I heard that the *real* Thomas was coming to Dillsboro, GA (about a 1½ hour drive) and we looked into it. So our Day out with Thomas was planned and we made the HUGE mistake of telling Bo that we were going to ride Thomas. Of course we are crazy for telling a 2½ year old that when he has no clue this is a month away (we’re going July 25th)! So he asks on a daily basis if we’re going to ride Thomas. He puts it: “Go ride Thomas and friends make tracks to great nations hundred dollars?” Thomas and Friends Make Tracks to Great Destinations is the movie we have and where the hundred dollars came from we have no clue!?

The fixation continued even deeper when Aunt Erin sent us the link to a Toys R Us coupon for a free wooden Thomas train. So we go in for the free one and come out with $70 worth of Thomas trains and track. AHH!! We ended up with Thomas, Percy, Annie and Clarabel, Harold the Helicopter, the Musical Caboose and the starter track set. We’re in this far why stop now right? Grandma has been holding another track set and a play table until we were ready for it so Chip brings that home yesterday morning and we set it up.

Being the ever frugal shopper he is Chip insisted we go back and try to get another free toy yesterday. They were all sold out of the free ones. Yay Darn. So we stop by Target because that’s the only place around where Thomas sheets can be found. Bo has Lightning McQueen bed sheets but I wanted a spare set so we thought why not Thomas. So keeping with the day’s theme they were sold out of the set we wanted, but we did find some “Thomas colored” sheets on clearance (light blue, navy, red and white striped) that Bo decided would be “cool”. We ended up down the wooden train isle and thankfully their selection was much smaller than Toys R Us. We decided to get him Toby (another of his favorites) but I kept it hidden until after dinner. Chip gets out to pump gas (don’t get me started on that either $4/gallon!!!) and Bo has been looking at the paper that came with the trains that shows all the available models and track, etc. since we won’t let him leave the house with these $10/each trains. Chip points to one and asks “who is that?”. Bo promptly and correctly answers “Toby,” and continues to read the paper. Chip pulls out the wooden one and asks “who is this?”. Bo looks shocked and says “TOBY!” then smiles the rest of the way home. It was so cute! He kept asking “Toby came from?” and I tried my best to explain that we got him at the store but wanted to surprise him.

Anyway now he’s quite the little conductor and rarely leaves his train table.

The Conductor

Hard at work keeping “Sodor” moving.

I’m a really useful engine!

…the widget on the side of the page changed from “Baby Brother” to “Levi Asher”? Well that’s because we finally decided on a name for our newest addition to the Brooks home! Next time you see Bo ask him what baby brother’s name is and he’ll give you the full scoop He gets very excited about Levi coming, even more so now that we ordered him bunk beds (arriving later this week) and we explained that when his big boy bed comes he’ll get to “pass down” his crib to Levi.

We have another doctor appointment on Thursday so hopefully we will give you another update. As of our last visit Levi was measuring one week ahead of schedule. No shock there since Bo measured (and came) early almost from the beginning. We must grow big babies

We visited family this past weekend in Emerald Isle, NC for our cousin Tommy’s wedding. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon after a 4am departure. Bo traveled very well (thanks to the DVD player and his books). We got to stay in a house right on the beach and it was very nice. On Thursday we went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. Bo loved seeing the turtles and Daddy bought him a small stuffed one that he named Lance and added it to his collection of animals that he has to sleep with every nap and night. For more insight on the name “Lance” and why Bo likes it see the end of this post

Saturday morning we made our final trip down to the ocean for a little play time. Bo had a blast playing in the sand and water. Daddy got creative and built an alligator and a turtle in the sand. Mommy enjoyed picking up pretty seashells.

Saturday evening was the main event (the wedding). It was a lovely, simple ceremony on the beach. The reception afterward was a lot of fun also!

After the wedding we packed up to come home and hit the road around 7am on Sunday. The trip was a lot of fun, but it felt good to get home even if we came home to 100 degree weather
Here’s the scoop on “Lance” the turtle. Bo, as you know, loves VeggieTales and one of the newer videos is Gideon Tuba Warrior. Well the silly song is “Ukulele Karaoke with Bob” and Bo loves the song. Be sure to turn up the volume and listen to the chorus Here’s the video: