CLARKSVILLE STATION: Day out with Thomas!

We started Kylan out in underwear after Easter Sunday. Within a week, I figured out a reward that has kept Kylan from pooping in his pants. For the last 2 weeks in May, Kylan has stayed dry at school all day and has gone days staying dry through the night. Kylan’s ultimate reward was a ticket to ride Thomas. Ty’s goal was to get 150 greens at school for the year. Luckily, Ty exceeded that number.

Both boys earned their tickets. We invited our friends, the Winklers (Joe, Dillan and Jonathan) to join us on our trip. I decided to try Tweetsie Railroad this year since it is a “wild west” amusement park and our ticket would let us ride Thomas multiple times. Tweetsie is all the way out by Boone, in the “mountains”, so we planned for an overnight trip and we could return to the park the second day free.

So after Ty’s end of the year celebration on Friday June 3, we piled into a rental minivan with the Winkler’s and made it a mom/sons weekend out.

We arrived at the park about a half hour before our 5:00 train ride with Thomas. As we approached the entrance, the boys had their first glimpse of Thomas.

Don’t they look so excited!

For some reason, Kylan became attached to a Lego pamphlet we received as we entered the park.

Ty won over the employees and made new friends even before entering the park.

With our train ride only minutes away, we spent our time checking out the buildings in front of the train loading area.

Ty and Dillon enjoyed climbing on the props for photo opps. Not sure where Ty picked up his riding style.

Kylan turns to see Thomas approaching.

Here is Ty waving as Thomas pulls back into the station for our 5:00 ride.

All Aboard! Kylan’s first train ride with Thomas.

Half way around the 3 mile ride, there is a silly little cowboy/indian act.

Here is Dillan with Ty and Kylan after their first train ride.

That was about all we were able to do the first night since they closed at 6 PM. I was going to introduce the Winkler’s to Mellow Mushroom for dinner, but unfortunately they had relocated and would not be opening at the new location until July. So we had to settle for Dominos.

Saturday, after filling up on breakfast at the hotel, we returned to Tweetsie Railroad for a full day at the park. The boys choose to start at the Thomas jump house.

Unfortunately, Kylan would not try it, and sat in the stroller while the other 3 played.

Surprisingly, Kylan wanted to see Sir Topham Hat. He was so excited to be able to see him and wave at him. But the line was so long, we decided we would try later that day for a picture.

The boys decided they wanted to ride the chair lifts up to the top of the mountain. Both Ty and Kylan were a little tense at first. Kylan relaxed once we talked about flying like a bird or a butterfly, but Ty was worried that I would drop my camera and told me to hold on tight.

At the top, there was a playground that occupied the boys time for a while, Joe and I had to pull them away to go ride the rides. The favorite was the Tweetsie Twister. All the boys loved it. Dillon and Ty rode together and tried to keep themselves apart. Kylan loved it and giggled the entire time. He even was adventurous and followed what some other kids did by holding his hands up in the air during the ride. When it ended, Kylan said, “more…again”.

Next, the boys rode the boats. Unfortunately, Dillan was too tall and had to watch instead.

After another ride on the Twister, we rode the chair lift back down the mountain and checked out the rides at the bottom. I stood in line with Dillan for the bumper cars. Then Ty and Jonathan rode the planes (when it was time, Kylan would not get on with him).

I rode the Tornado and the drop with Dillan who was tall enough for those big rides. Then the last amusement ride I did with Ty and Dillan was the tilt-a-world.

At this point, Kylan had pretty much stayed in the stroller for the past couple hours, so we let him choose and he wanted to ride Thomas again. Fortunately, we were able to get on the next train.