A Day with Thomas the Train, a 13 year old, and a 2 year old ready for his nap…

Thomas the Train made of Mega Blocks

Yesterday my family and I had the wonderful idea of taking my nephew to see Thomas the Train, live and in person. The Oklahoma Railway Museum was hosting a special event where kids can meet the life-size blue train.

On a side note, my nephew loves watching Thomas on TV. Before he could even speak, he would make the ‘choo-choo’ sound when the show started. Now that he can speak, he yells out “Thomas”, or the equivalent to it.

In theory taking him to see Thomas was going to be great. And even though he wouldn’t remember it, it was something that we would enjoy as a family.

So, we get to the Oklahoma Railway Museum and have to park in a muddy field. That’s okay. We were lucky and got a spot near the road, so we didn’t have to drive through too much mud.

Grandpa carried him through the gates and right away we saw Thomas the train. My nephew was VERY excited and began making his ‘choo-choo’ sound, which got some chuckles from everyone.

We bought our tickets, which included a twenty-five minute on Thomas (technically it was on one of the passenger carts, which were old school). The train ride was fun, but those old carts were rickety, rocking back and forth.

After the train ride was over, we went through the museum and it’s themed events. As each event passed, my nephew began to get more and more cranky… until we reached the point that we were THAT family -  you know… the one with the screaming kid that you stare at, but try not to get caught staring at.

Oh, and I forgot to add one little detail here. My niece was also there (of course). You all remember my niece, who comes up with the off-the-wall stories? Anyway, yesterday was her birthday. Now, she is a great kid. But spending her 13th birthday with Thomas the Train didn’t go over too well, even though we have a ‘real’ party scheduled for later in the week.

So, by the end of the day this is what we had:
1) A Cranky 2 year old boy who needed a nap
2) A Cranky 13 year old girl who wanted to leave
3) Two Grandparents who wanted to leave
4) One Mom who was trying to keep it all together
5) And one Aunt, who was just laughing (that’s me, by the way)

I can say that we all survived our day out with Thomas the Train, though. And it definitely made memories.

The Great State of Abraska…

The other day my niece came home from school. As usual, she was full of chatter. Each day I get to hear about the current gossip in the 6^th grade, which student is sick, and anything exciting that happens in class.

My niece rattled off some gossip and then she exclaimed, “Oh! We also learned about crazy laws that some states have.”

Her eyes sparkled with interest, so I asked, “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well,” she began as she flopped down on the couch, “In Oklahoma there is a law that says it is illegal to spit on the sidewalk!”

“I remember hearing about that one. There is also one where it is illegal to curse in front of women and children on a Sunday.” I replied.

“The best one was from Abraska! Did you know it is illegal to flick a booger?”

I looked back at my niece and tried not to laugh. Clearly, she misunderstood.

“Um, I think you have a fact wrong.”

“No! It’s true! In Abraska, you can go to jail if you flick a booger! Isn’t that gross?”

“Abraska?” I asked.

“Yeah!” My niece said, nodding her head.

I am trying not to laugh, “Um… do you mean Nebraska?”

She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face, “No, it’s Abraska…”

I do laugh now, “There isn’t a state called Abraska. There is a state called Nebraska.”

“No, I know it started with an ‘a’.”

I smile, “I’m going to name off some ‘a’ states… Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama…”

“That’s it!” she exclaimed. “It was Alabama!”

I laughed. The mystery had been solved.

“What grade are you in?” I asked with a smile. I was only teasing, though.

She didn’t reply, but opened her book to read instead.

Abraska, eh? Oh my. It gave me a good laugh anyway.
　

　

Bloody Mary

  The other day my niece came home from school talking about a few of her classmates. They apparently played the “Bloody Mary” game at a slumber party. She said it sounded lame and she didn’t know why they thought it was scary.
   My sister told my niece that she played Bloody Mary at a slumber party when she was about 10 and it scared her so bad that my Dad had to come and get her and take her home. Well, my niece is starting to get this excited look in her eyes. She loves being scared even though she claims she's not.

    So I tell her about playing the game with my cousin. In my defense, I was seriously like 5 when we played and, of course, it scared me. My niece is begging to play now, so finally I agree.
 
Before we play, I look up the history of the game and read it to her.

Here is a brief description of the game, for those of you who have never played.
From castleofspirits.com
  Bloody Mary is the children’s game of summoning an evil and vengeful witch through a mirror. The person (or people) stand in front of the mirror with a candle or flashlight. They say “Bloody Mary” three times in a row to summon her.

   The belief is that by summoning her, she will appear in the mirror and try to pull the person (or people) into the mirror with her. Of course there are many variations of the game, with different things that happen when you say the name.

   By now my niece is really excited to play. She loves being scared, so this is something she knows she will like. On the other hand, she is 12 and asked before we played if I thought it was real. I laughed and told her no.

   So we go into our small bathroom. I tell her that I am going to turn off the light so her eyes can get used to the dark and then turn on the flashlight (we thought it was safer than a candle lol) just so she can see what it looks like.

   I do this and when I turn on the flashlight she has a death grip on the hand-towel hanging on the wall. Well, now I know this is going to be fun, so I turn off the light.

   “Are you ready” I ask her.

   I can barely see her nod, but she is silent.

   “You have to say it, or she won’t show up.” I prompt my niece.

   She is still silent and I can hear her breathing. Oh yeah, she is scared.

   I lower my voice and say, “Bloody Mary. Blooooddddy Marrrrrryyyy. Blooooooooodddddddyyyyy Maaaaaaarrrrryyyyyyyy!”

   And then I turn on the flashlight. When the light comes on, she is standing with her hands covering her face so she doesn’t have to look at the mirror. (She later explains that she figured if she couldnt see Bloody Mary, then she couldnt be trapped in the mirror lol)

   I think I am being funny, so I let out a little scream.

   My niece starts screaming at the top of her lungs and swings around, knocking the flashlight out of my hand. Then she shoves me back so hard that I almost fall into the shower.

  I am laughing so hard at this point that I can barely stand up to turn the main light on.

   By this time, my niece is starting to calm down (and uncover her eyes). She sees me on the floor and starts laughing, too. Then she tried to play it off, like she wasn’t scared, but we both know the truth.

Oh the “Bloody Mary” game. Traumatizing children from one generation to the next.

Fun Friday!

It’s Friday everyone! *cues band playing music!* We have worked all week to get to this point and now it is here! In honor of Fun- Friday, I am going to share a story with you all about my wacky niece, Kayla.

Now, here is a little tidbit about Kayla… she has a GREAT imagination, even though she is only 11. This is a good thing, but it can also be a bad/ hard to explain trait. And this brings me to my story.

When Kayla was in the third grade, she had a teacher that she adored. (Ironically, I also had this teacher when I was in the third grade). Anyway, it was time for the parent-teacher conference and my sister knew she didn’t have anything to worry about. Kayla might talk a lot, but she is a good kid.
So my sister went to the conference and it went a little something like this:

Teacher: I am glad to hear that Kayla’s got to spend some time with her dad. It is just great that he took her ice fishing!

My sister: Ummm…

Teacher: And Kayla described it beautifully! I felt like I was there with her! She said that she and her dad had to bundle up because it was so cold outside. Then, they walked across the ice where the hole had been cut. Kayla said that when they dropped the line into the water that it was so cold that the worm froze! She said it was like an ice cube! I just couldn’t believe it!

My sister *trying not to laugh*: Um, that never happened.

Teacher *blinking*: What?

My sister: Kayla has never been ice fishing. In fact, she has never been fishing before…

Teacher: But… but…

My sister: Welcome to my world!


LOL I will tell you all one thing, I get a LOT of ideas from my niece! On that happy note, I bid you all farewell until Monday! Have a great weekend!