happier than a pig in you-know-what

today we decided to "explore" a small town north of us. they have an outlet mall that was having a great labor day/sidewalk sale but we needed more reason than that to spend gas money to drive the 45mins to get to the sale.

well i told B we should pack a picnic lunch and find a local park. we could eat, let the boys play, drive around the town and see what it had to offer, then head to the outlets. so once pookie woke up from his morning nap that's exactly what we did.

we found an adorable park---it was huge! it had ball diamonds, a football field and 5 separate playgrounds with equipment. well we picked the one with the rubberized ground instead of sand (for fairly obvious reasons!) and set up shop at a picnic table in the shade. we had PB&J sandwiches, goldfish, grapes, an apple, go-gurt and a few m&m's; then it was play time! the boys did have fun, but the equipment was kinda hot. i didn't get any pictures because i was constantly chasing one of them. while at the playground, we could hear all these choo-choo's so we decided to find them.

looky what we found!

hopped in the car and less than 5 minutes away was a locomotive maintenance station. there were a TON of trains! we pulled in and parked by 2 engines that were off by themselves on a mini-track. they weren't going anywhere so we decided to let the boys pose by them for pictures. ironically enough, pooks was crazy excited and bubba was more of a quiet observer. he was very quiet and really just taking it all in. you could hear the workers repairing an engine in this hanger building, and bubba was very interested in the sounds coming from the shop. pooks however was just pointing to every train saying ''choo choo". they seemed to really enjoy it! once we were in the car again, and i showed bubba the pictures, he got REALLY excited. i think he was just overwhelmed while in the moment.

a very excited pooks jumping down, bubba was not so sure

bubba ''smiling" when i told him to say "cheese"

look how all tiny my boys look!

back to the car. bubba wasn't sad to get back in, LOL

we then went shopping (found some great bargains for all 3 kiddos) then headed back into town. we stopped at a gas station to fill up and the local firefighters were there doing ''fill our boots for muscular dystrophy" fundraiser. while pooks slept in the car, B filled up the car and i took bubba over to give our donation and see the fire engine up close. after we gave the fireman our donation, i asked if bubba could get his picture taken by the fire engine. he said he could do one better and he let bubba sit in the cab! bubba was like a pig in mud! he was smiling from ear to ear making his ''wooOOO wooOOO wooOOO" noises. i told him to smile and he was cheesing it up! (even the fireman commented that he looked like he was posing for a senior portrait, LOL)

after he climbed down from the cab, he sat on the front bumper, equally as excited.

just goes to show you that even in today's society, kids still get really excited about random road trips with completely FREE activites! and this was a big deal for me too! anyone who knows me, knows i HATE HATE HATE being lost. yet i openly suggested going to a town that i wasn't familar with, finding a park once there and just going with the flow. it worked out really well! now we're going to grill some burgers and enjoy the evening at home!

hope you liked all the pics :)