Making it Lovely

Tag: trains

  • Another Day Out with Thomas

    Another Day Out with Thomas

    We first met up with Thomas, the cheeky blue engine, two years ago. We missed it last year because we spent the summer up in Wisconsin while we waited to move into our new house, but we went again this weekend. I don’t know if you know this, but carrying a big rock to meet Sir Topham Hatt? It’s a thing.

    Meeting Sir Topham Hatt

    Thomas travels around North America through the spring and summer, and the event is held near Chicago each year at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL. It’s a cool place, with an impressive collection of “rolling stock” (locomotives and cars). Eleanor and August are still afraid of the biggest engines, but the smaller, friendlier ones are much less imposing.

    Horse-Drawn Railroad Car
    Old Railway Signs
    Checking Out the Old Trains
    IL Railway Museum

    The kids got temporary tattoos, played with train tables, and climbed on a giant sand mound. Not sure how that last one was train-related, but they enjoyed it.

    Thomas Activities
    Sandy Sand

    And of course, there was the obligatory Thomas train ride.

    Thomas Ride

    The kids waved at him and thanked him for the ride every time we saw him puff by. My goofy little cuties.

    Rockin' Out!

  • A Day Out With Thomas

    A Day Out With Thomas

    We recently drove out to Union, Illinois, to the Illinois Railway Museum for a Day Out with Thomas. It was a little odd to see a full-sized Thomas the Tank Engine. His eyes moved, he whistled, and he puffed steam. (And while he was putting on a good show at the front of the train, an engine at the other end did the hard work of moving the passenger cars.)

    Full-Sized Thomas the Tank Engine, Pulling Passenger Cars

    We took one twenty-minute ride, soon after we arrived. Eleanor then spent the rest of the day asking when we could go again. Every time Thomas passed by, she was equally excited. “Hi, Thomas!” she yelled, waving her little arms at him. August was into it too, though his enthusiasm is more expressed through grunts and gestures. (Dude, learn some new words already.)

    My sister, Ashley, came with us for the day.

    The old trains were amazing. I felt so small next to them. Barn number 9 housed all of the big steam engines, and Eleanor was afraid to go in. Too scary, she said. (They were imposing.) Ashley and I took August in while E hung back with Brandon.

    Old Trains

    Aunt Ashley got a little bonding time in with August, and an arm workout.

    Cool old signs. (Climax! Tee hee! I’m twelve.)

    Cool Old Railroad Signs

    The day was train-centric (obviously), but there were a few other things to do. Eleanor and Brandon played a round of mini golf. (Bran was proud of his hole-in-one shot.) There was a fire engine there, which is August’s OMG favorite thing in the world, and I thought the kids would have been more into trying on the firefighters’ hats. Don’t they look thrilled?

    Also, Eleanor met Sir Topham Hatt. (Or “The Fat Controller”, depending on which Thomas story you’re reading and how flattering it is toward him.) E carried a rock.

    Eleanor Meets Sir Topham Hatt

    They really did have a great time though! The grown-ups, too. I imagine we’ll be attending for the next few years.

    A Day Out with Thomas

    Me and Eleanor

  • Eleanor’s Third Birthday Party

    Eleanor’s Third Birthday Party

    My little conductor train engineer turned three at the end of April.

    The big conductor train engineer turned 34, two days later.

    The party invitations promised train whistles and caps for all, and we delivered. Bandanas, too.

    My idea for the table was to create a forest in the center with train tracks all around, and little bits of scenery. The cats destroyed my maiden hair fern centerpiece almost immediately though, so I went to a big box store for more plants and found the selection lacking. I ended up with a rubber tree plant, and I used the moss I had leftover from making my terrarium to fill in as shrubbery.

    We had the usual party decorations up too, and pretty packages all wrapped up for giving.

    The Marimekko tablecloth on the table was the one I’d written about last year. I didn’t buy it at the time, but I thought of it when I was trying to find something that would suggest a landscape for the table, and I was able to find one on eBay. We had a birthday cupcake train, led by Thomas. The cupcakes were from a bakery, and Eleanor and I made the flatcars out of graham crackers, mini Oreos, frosting (from a tube, used like glue), and wafer cookies (as axels, for stability).

    It was a good day, with no confusion or delay.

    Happy birthday(s), my loves.

  • Train Party Invitations (Free Printable)

    Train Party Invitations (Free Printable)

    We’re having a party for Eleanor’s third birthday soon. She loves trains, and while searching google images for “Little Golden Books Trains”, I came across The Train to Timbuctoo by Margaret Wise Brown, with illustrations by Art Seiden.

    It was originally published in 1951 and though it is now out of print, it’s easy enough to find used copies for sale. I ordered one from eBay (a first edition copy!) with plans to use some of the illustrations inside for our party invitations. The title page had the perfect layout, so I scanned it, cleaned it up, and based our invitations off of it.

    I printed them on cream colored paper and rounded the edges with a corner punch, then paired each invite with a burnt orange envelope.

    I’ve created a free blank version, available for download below. You can print them four to a page (the second link has them laid out for you already), and the invitations will fit perfectly in an A2 envelope (like these).

    These are for personal, non-commercial use only, falling under the Fair Use Copyright Act.