The day we met Thomas the Tank Engine

Here's Thomas! We had a ride on him.

As a school holiday outing last week, we visited Port Adelaide Railway Museum where there were many activities planned with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme. We thought Blake would thoroughly enjoy himself. Although I think he did enjoy himself, like all 3-year-olds, he lost the plot a few times. For example, we took a ride on Thomas, pictured above. We were several carriages behind the engine, and Blake sat for the duration of the ride with a serene expression on his face. Later, when we mentioned how we rode on Thomas, he piped up, "No, we didn't!" And he wouldn't hear any different. "Our train wasn't Thomas. Our train was yellow!" I realised that as the carriage we were sitting in was yellow, and Thomas himself was way ahead of us, Blake didn't notice that it was actually Thomas pulling our train. It's pretty funny really. You take a little boy way across to city to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine, and he doesn't even realise he did so.

There were also activities in an auditorium. The children were given all sorts of polish rags and asked to polish the trains. At the end, the presenters said they'd call up "the best" boy and girl polishers to receive prizes. It reminded me of school situations. There were many, many little toddlers all polishing with all their might, and I felt a bit sad to see that the majority of them were not called up for the honor. Of course they can't choose everyone, but I've never been a big fan of children being singled out for "prizes". I remember how disappointed I used to feel when I was young and missed out after trying hard. The younger the child, the more they don't understand that this sort of situation is fairly random, anyway. I remember complaining to my parents, "I was going just as good/fast/hard as the person who won!"

Anyway, quite accidentally, we concerned "The Fat Controller" and got this photo of Blake with him. Emma bought a huge stick of pink fairy floss. And we explored the rest of the museum, including some carriages set up from all the decades of South Australia's past, which was more suitable for Logan's age, although he was very patient when we did the Thomas activities with Blake. I always think a drive down to historical Port Adelaide is well worth the trip. It was a fun day.

However, although Blake did have an interesting time, I'm pleased to say, he normally has just as good a time around our own district. Here he is in a street a little way from ours which has all these wild jonquils growing. He loves flowers. Perhaps one day he'll be a gardener or horticulturalist.