Elias' third birthday was on May 21, and we held his birthday the following Saturday at the Railroad Historical Museum in Springfield. We had never heard of this place, but a friend of Justin's at school had mentioned it to him as a neat place that offers free admission and is also available for private parties! So we booked it without having ever even seen it... I mean, how can you go wrong with a train museum as a location for a Thomas party?!?!?! And boy, it sure didn't disappoint! We didn't even realize it, but the museum actually IS an old steam train that has been restored, and you can explore all 4 cars. We kept it very simple, just come-and-go with cake, and the kids could explore the train. Since it would be fun and free, we just sent mass invitations to everybody, and we ended up with more than 40 people coming to his party! It was SO MUCH FUN, though, and I'm so glad it was such a special day for Elias. For most of the photos below, you can click to enlarge and see them better.
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| This was his e-invitation... Cute and appropriate! |
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| Elias and Daddy in front of the big steam engine. Elias called it Gordon, like the big express engine on Thomas. You could pull that rope to make the bell ring on top of the engine... That was a big hit with the kids! |
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| The 4 cars of the train, from left: engine, museum car, "dining" car, caboose. |
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| The volunteers who ran the museum were so precious! They gave Elias that framed photo of the engine back in its working days, and they signed the back wishing him a happy birthday! |
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| The museum had several working models, which the kids loved! |
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| Elias' favorite was this working model of the old steam engine! He could've watched those wheels turn all day! |
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| Inside the "dining" car. It had the kind of seats where you could flip the back to face either direction, or flip it up to make a table. That was PERFECT for our party! |
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| Elias was thrilled over his Thomas cake, with the Thomas and #3 candles! |
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| I'm glad we opted for the half sheet - I ordered it before I knew how many guests were coming! |
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| Daddy helping Elias blow out his candles. |
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| Elias ate about 2 bites of cake before he was done. I had forgotten we learned last year that he doesn't really like cake... Next year we'll do just ice cream! |
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| He sure did love playing with the Thomas balloons we used for decoration, though! He is, in fact, still playing with them 2 weeks later - there are still about 5 that haven't popped... |
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| My sweet 3-year-old! Note the adorable personalized train shirt from For Your Little Monkey on Etsy. She's the same one who made his personalized birthday shirt last year! |
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| The train museum is part of a larger park with playgrounds, tennis courts, water park, you name it. So after the party, Elias and Daddy made a little stop at the playground to ride the triceratops! |
2 comments:
Worth pointing out that the big model train that he loved watching was over 100 years old, was at the 1904 World's Fair or something. So, they couldn't run it very much but did it especially for him.
What a neat place! Plus...Elias looks so grown up. It just goes by too fast!
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