Our Weekend: Thomas and Toddler Beds

I mentioned last weekend that we wanted to check out the Thomas the Train exhibit at the Discovery Cube, but the LA marathon made that nearly impossible, so this past Saturday we made good on our promise to Ez and went to check it out. To sum it up there were kids and mini Thomas trains everywhere. It was basically a free for all madhouse toddler paradise and we overheard parents saying they'd been there for hours and their kids still didn't want to leave. They had a bunch of tables with tracks and trains set up, as well as giant trains the kids could climb on. Ez just wanted to play with the small trains and tracks (which were nearly identical to the ones he has at home). 

A lot of the kids there had a hoarder mentality, and would wander around collecting as many trains as they could fit in their arms, including the ones Ez was playing with. Ez always just sat there watching other kids take his toys without any protest. And half the time he'd helpfully hand them any toys they might have missed. Part of me is happy that he's so laidback, and part of me wants him to stand up for himself, but I assume he'll learn that real quick once his little bro tries taking his toys. Also, I'm just happy I don't have to follow him around removing all the toys he'd gathered and handing them back to the kids he took them from. Needless to say, we saw a few tantrums while we were there (none by Ez though).

There were a few other exhibits, but most of them were beyond Ez's age range, so we headed next door to the park instead. Joe and I were jokingly wondering what we used to do before kids. Our weekends are planned around activities Ez loves, and we're always on the lookout for any kid places that center around cars, trains, or animals. Not exactly the places we would have sought out before, but now our entertainment is watching what a kick Ez gets out of everything. And he was running around like a little tornado, totally in his element that day, so I'd say it was a pretty successful weekend.

After plenty of kid fun we headed to Ikea in search of a bed for Ez. Ikea was apparently the adult version of the Thomas exhibit because it was also a madhouse. After a harrowing walk through there I've decided people should have to pass a test before they can operate shopping carts. As soon as we saw the checkout lines we decided to abort our mission and get the heck outta there, but we did make good progress on our toddler bed search and 5 stores + countless gaudy car-themed beds later we have selected this bed as our top contender. It's got storage, and a pull out bed, which would make it great for guests. Now we just need to find time during the week to make it back to Ikea.

On Sunday we went on our first beach visit of the year, but we got so many great photos that I'll save that for another post. We capped off the weekend with some spring cleaning, Walking Dead, and House of Cards. What are we gonna do when both those seasons are finished??? If Ez has it his way, we'll just watch Thomas all day long. He's never actually watched that show before, but after the exhibit we realized they had Thomas on Netflix, and as soon as we put it on Ez froze in place and was transfixed for a good 30 minutes. It's like he was hypnotized. Joe and I decided it's the worst children's show we've ever seen (in terms of boringness), but if we ever need to buy ourselves a half hour chunk of time now we know how.

How was your weekend? Hope you had a great one!

Introducing Daddy to Thomas.

All the kids got Thomas hats. Ez was not a fan.

In his element.

Learning about pulleys (aka - make someone else do the heavy lifting)

"RAWRRR!!"

This backpack was too cute! He shrugged it off and ran away in 2 seconds flat though.

Coolest swings ever - I want one for our backyard.

Ez trying to drink from a fountain was pretty comical. He kept closing his mouth as soon as the water hit his face.

And one snap from our Friday night (unsuccessful) bed shopping mission.