The drinks are cheaper, the equipment is in way better shape, and you only have to share with as many kids as you invite over to play.

“Here you go, Thomas, you drive up on this ramp that Ian’s Mommy put together!”

Thanks for the expansion pack, Uncle Ty… it really comes in handy.

“Thomas, you are a good boy.  I’m proud of you!”

PS: DADDY is drinking the Monster Blue… NOT Ian.

This little bit of cuteness started when they asked to play trains.  They set up the tracks together- I’d hand them each a piece and they’d each lay their piece and ask me to help them when they couldn’t figure out how to make it do what they wanted, like make a circle. 

Then they started a game where Ian was driving his train and Sophie was doing the signals- red means stop, green means go, and blue meant something I couldn’t quite understand.  I was trying so hard to capture it on video, but they were done by the time I got it fired up.  After that, we have what you see here.


This utopia of interactive play came to an end when they realized there were not enough train pieces in the track box to make a really LONG train and started trying to poach each other’s engines.  I had to get down on hands and knees and dig up the basket of trains from Ian’s room to restore harmony- and restored it was.