Mona’s Garden

For those of you who don’t know Thomas, I don’t know that I can really describe it. It’s an old show I would imagine but it was only recently since the birth of my second son that I know of Thomas. It’s a television show that I believe originated with Ringo Starr narrating, books, toys etc. I believe it is of English origin but I can’t bet my life on it. Anyhoo, the baby is a big fan of Thomas. About a week ago or so in the local paper I saw an event at Tweetsie Railroad being advertised that was for A Day Out with Thomas. Thomas the Train was going to be at Tweetsie Railroad in Boone/Blowing Rock, NC starting June 1. I showed my husband the article, we talked a bit about it. I had a question about it so I called the Tweetsie Railroad and next thing you know I am ordering tickets. I bought tickets for my husband, oldest son, and myself. The oldest opted out of going. On our way home he called and told me he was going to go, a bit late….

We went yesterday.

First of all the trip there. Started out horribly. We got our directions from mapquest and apparantly they are still using old exit numbers off the highway. Overshot our exit and had to backtrack. Headed down the road a good bit and thought maybe I was going in the wrong direction so I turned around and went back to a gas station at the exit. Come to find out we were headed in the right direction. The girl gave me landmarks (stores) to look for to make a couple of my turns and then it was what to most would be a straight shot. Curvy, 2 lane, back mountain roads. Took us nearly 3 hours to get there.

Parking was ridiculous. We had to walk for what seemed like miles from our space on the grass.

The park itself was a bit of a disappointment for me. I expected more I suppose. Had to remind myself we were there for the child and Thomas. We got to ride on the train. Well…..Thomas the train was in front with a regular engine behind him pushing it. There were I believe 5 cars attached to it and we were in the first car. They stopped the train along the track so we could watch “a cowboy, indian fight”. Turns out the chief and Thomas were of the same mind and language apparantly.

After the train ride we went into the Thomas gift shop which charged outrageous prices for the toys and accessories but we got suckered in anyways.
The baby always likes to play with the wooden train set whenever we come upon it. He has the plastic set and extender pack and many trains for it, but seems to like the wooden set better. So as I say we got suckered in and bought him a beginner set. He enjoys it and that is what matters.
We did ride the chair lift down the mountain. That was a bit unnerving for me, but I was holding the child so I had to stay steady.

My son says this blog is hard to read so I am doing paragraphs. Hope it helps. Not that anyone reads this blog but me.
Made the trip home safely and a bit more easier than the trip going in. It was a long day.

Even though tomorrow is Mother’s Day, I’d like to take this entry to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. My husband bought me some curtains for our bedroom and also a quilt that I mentioned I liked. I was quite surprised to be quite honest. I bought my mom some daisy’s a week or so ago and took them to her and put them in pots and I suppose that is my present to her. I’d like to cook dinner for her and my dad but I’m not the best cook in the world and I’d rather make it a cook out but then that would require my dad to do the cooking of the meat since he has the grill. I may still do it though. I could do the rest of the stuff to go with it and take it up there.
It’s kind of gloomy outside today but I’m hoping we get a good hard rain for a bit and then the sun comes out. We haven’t done anything in the garden for the past couple of days except just water and check on the plants. I’m having a dilemma with my yellow rose. It’s droopy and I don’t know why. We water it and take care of it. Brad said it may just need time to adjust. I hope so. That one is the most expensive one we have and it looks the worse. The 6.97 rose is growing wonderfully. Doesn’t bloom a lot but it’s getting buds on it as I speak. I don’t know if we’ll be working out there today or not.
I need to get up to my parents house and help my mom go through some of my Granny’s stuff. She is giving it to the salvation army. I will try on some of the tops and see if I can wear them but it’s highly doubtful. I did try on a coat the other day and it was very snug and tight across the shoulders so I feel the tops may be the same. I did bring home a doll and an old old handbag. Don’t really know who it belonged to but I’m thinking it was Geneva’s as it was in the foot locker and that contained a lot of her stuff. I will take care of it no matter who it belonged to though.