weekend away

so. much. FUN!  


friday i picked up leyton from the sitter's, and borrowed a car seat for him, and we went to WM.  shopping fun!  : )  i really missed my purse camera, too, cuz there were lots of cute cart moments!  lol  he got to pick out a toy, and he chose a harold figurine.  (harold, for the non-thomas initiates, is a helicopter from that series.)  we came back to my house for a bit - i was supposed to do laundry, but i forgot!  *laugh*  anyway, we made it to mom's in time to go to bed... that was a rough situation.  leyton didn't want to go to bed, mom was really tired & cranky... eventually everyone went to sleep, tho!  


saturday we got up EEEEAAAARRRRLLLLYYYYY and were on the road by 8:15.  we stopped at grandma's kitchen for breakfast.  cute restaurant!!  kinda like the machine shed (owned by the same conglomerate).  delicious breakfast!  

then, back on the road, to Thomas and Sir Topam Hatt!  : )  the trip was fun and funny, with lots of laughing and a little napping.  

more awesome skies, but that also meant more rain!

when we got to boone, when we first started seeing trains on the rails, leyton got very excited!  of course!  God smiled on us & we got excellent parking.  mom had to take care of some things in the van, so leyton & i went on ahead.  there's a cute lil caboose right by the entrance to the depot that he had lots of fun playing on.  

and then we heard a train whistle & saw thomas pull up & there was even more excitement!  

they had a lot going on, tents & food vendors & even a magician.  it would have been awesome if the weather had cooperated.  unfortunately, it was misty in the beginning & then it started to POUR and POUR and POUR.  my feet got soaked, because i didn't have rain-appropriate footwear!  my jeans were soaked, too, cuz they're long.  *laugh*  that part was pretty miserable, but leyton had a lot of fun, so it was definitely worth it!  

we were first in line to meet sir topam hatt, but when he actually arrived, leyton didn't want to go near him!  mom almost tried to force him, thankfully caught herself & said it was okay, but she was still irritated.  we also actually got to take a RIDE on the thomas train, and all the kids got certificates to be jr. conductors.  nifty!!

we left around 4, and found a WM so i could find new shoes.  i love my new shoes!  so much so that i'm taking back the shoes we found at famous footwear a couple weekends ago.

we went to a chinese buffet for dinner, and it was good, but mom had tummy issues later.  :(  mine got gurgly, but i didn't get sick at all, thankfully!  (i'm kinda winging all the food stuff right now, btw.  i mean, i know general good-eating guidelines, and follow them, but specifics?  no idea.  should i eat more strawberries?  can i have a pork egg roll and crab ragoon?  since the green beans are coated in something, does it negate their nutritional value?  i have my first "class" tuesday, meeting w/ a nutritionalist, so hopefully i'll know more after that!)


after dinner, we finally went to our hotel, a holiday inn express in ames.  it was a really sweet room!  COMFY bed, oh my heck!  and the bathroom had a cute recessed shelving unit that was a great use of space & very darling.  100% better bathroom than the last hotel, for sure!!  (not hard to be better than that bathroom.  is the TP holder cutting into your leg?  no?  then it's probably better.  LOL)  

we all fell asleep fairly early - after watching the end of the new Apprentice.  woot!!  (i watched the whole thing tonight, looks like an awesome season!)  there were some arguments btwn mom & leyton, because he didn't want to go potty before bed.  oye!  today we slept late, had some breakfast, and headed home.  the trip back was fun, too, we were all in good spirits.  : )  

we visited the most awesome rest area in the entire state of iowa.  yes, this is including the I-80 truckstop.  that place is cool, and BIG, but this one... well, just look!  

oh my heck, this pose made me SMILE!

seriously, i wish it hadn't still been cold & rainy, because we could have spent a lot of time exploring this one!  idk if it's new or if i just have never noticed it before!  i can't imagine how i would have missed it, but there ya go.  


once we got home, i tried to get ahold of jen, but couldn't, so i brought leyton home w/ me.  mom needed to go to grammy's & since jen lives close to me now, i figured leyton & i could hang out while i did some cleaning & stuff!  lol  we hung out for an hour & then got ahold of jen (she'd taken a nap & her alarm didn't go off on time...) & brought leyton there.  made arrangements for him to spend the night saturday.  woot!  


tonight i've watched the apprentice, psych, and GH.  the season finale of psych, oh my goodness!  awesome time!  and GH!!!  : )  


and of course my posts... lol  ... i just looked at the clock and it's almost 1 and there's work tomorrow and ... ack!  gotta sleep.  hope everyone had an AWESOME weekend & that we all have a wonderful monday.  and also that you enjoy all the pictures!!  *laugh*  


ttfn!!