We've been Robbed!

No, not really, but we had an adventure yesterday and I wanted to share!

So, we've lived in Lebanon for almost 6 years now.  Lebanon, OH is a small country town, but we are known for a couple things.  First is the Golden Lamb - a restaurant and the oldest Inn in the state of Ohio.  It was opened in 1803 and has had 12 presidents that have visited.  We have actually never been there, but it's on the to-do list (one of these days!).

Second is the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad (LM&M), which is a scenic train ride that offers hour-long train rides and a bunch of different themed train rides.  For example, they have an Easter Bunny ride, Curious George, Civil War, Clifford, and their most popular, Day out with Thomas.  I've stopped a couple times with the boys just to take a look at the trains but we've never taken a ride.

Until yesterday, that is.  I received an email about discount tickets on Friday for a "Great Train Robbery" ride this weekend, and I decided that it would be a fun "last event as a family of 4".  But we surprised the boys with the ride and we also didn't tell them about the train robbery that was going to take place. :)

Ever since seeing Thomas last year (we just went to see him, but didn't actually ride), Tyler has been begging to go for a train ride.  He was THRILLED about actually being able to get on the train and go for the ride.

We started out by taking a 30 minute train ride out to the "country".

While riding, people dressed in cowboy attire kept warning us about getting into the "bad land" and that we should secure all of our gold and valuables.  Then, when we arrived to the staging area, "robbers" boarded the train and demanded all of our valuables.

Tyler (my almost 4 year old) kept telling us to be quiet so the "bad guys don't hear you."

Ryan's reaction to the robbers on the train

After they took some jewelry from other actors on the train, they unloaded us and we walked to the staging area.  There, we found the 3 robbers who couldn't find their horses.  Since they couldn't make their getaway, 3 Sheriffs confronted them and resulted in a shoot out.

Of course, the "bad guys" lost and fell down dead.  But they didn't stay dead for long...which Tyler was disappointed about.  He kept asking why the bad guys didn't die :)  We tried to get a photo of the boys with the actors, but Tyler wouldn't go close to the bad guys.  I think he was a little nervous about them!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun for the kids.  The acting was really cheesy and the train wasn't in the greatest condition (the engine had over 2.5 million miles on it!), but it was a perfect day out for 2 little boys!