Quite possibly the worst day ever

So last month we went to a birthday party that in and of itself was lovely--just everything else surrounding that fateful day we are still trying to forget. Sadly we have not forgotten and may actually be scarred for life, so let's just recap all the fun:

It was a sunny, HOT weekend, well into the 90s and instead of staying on the coast where it was oppressively hot, we opted to go inland to Fillmore for the famed traveling railroad event, Day Out with Thomas.

We'll start with the good stuff.

Snakes were involved. I bet you didn't know they had pythons on the island of Sodor:

And here we are happily on the train, moments before the day took a decidedly nasty turn for the worse:


Two words: "Toddler Clusterf*#k".

First was the full blown tantrum for the juice box. I have to admit that when I returned to the scene from the port-a-potty I scarcely belived that horrific noise was emanating from MY child. But there he was: screaming and kicking like the best of them, attempting to steal juice boxes from the vendor's display. (For the record he did NOT get a juice box.) Then there was the subsequent meltdown at the communal train table "staffed" by two pimply teenage boys who were as useful at controlling traffic and staggering the kids as two dense logs. While they sat oblivious to the mayhem, parents feebly marshaled screaming children vying for scarce train goods and politely trying to negotiate with the older toddlers breaking up and ruining the track for everyone and whose parents were conveniently MIA.

Then there was the Tent of Consumerism, piled high with marketing marvels from China emblazoned with Thomas's visage that we had to avoid like the eleventh plague.

As we negotiated the crowds and traveled like salmon upstream to get the hell out of there, the last stop was at the fire engine. You can see Micah's exhausted look after two tantrums, with the best for last brewing under the surface:

Shortly thereafter Zack carried a screaming Micah away from the scene as we greeted unsuspecting parents just arriving in the parking lot. I wished each of them a fabulous time. He wailed for ten full minutes, "I don't want to go!" while Zack and I tried to go to our happy place in the front seat of the car. He finally crashed out and woke pulling his ear. The end of the day was spent in Urgent Care getting his third ear infection in 4 months diagnosed. We just finished the course of antibiotics.

Did I mention it was 95 plus degrees out?