Thomas, A Grinch, and Wilhelm The Assembly Man

My dear friend Ms. Katie Grinch stopped by to meet Samara the other day. Grinchy and I have known each other for 10 years. Wow! When I type that out it feels rather impressive. She works in publishing, so she came bearing exciting books for both Ari and Samara. She also brought a onesie for the baby with her publishing company's logo on it that read "Future Reader."

After she held Samara and hung out with Ari, we decided to go out for a walk, get our eyebrows waxed, and stop in a local toy store to pick up a Thomas Train for Ari. Once we set foot in the store, however, my original plan to purchase one train went out the window. You see, in this particular toy store they have a wooden Thomas train table with an elaborate set up featuring up hill bridges and multiple loop-de-loops.

I asked one of the ladies in the store if they sold the Thomas Train table they have on display.
"Yes, we do! But we also have one from Melissa & Doug which is half the price!" She boasted.

Though I just got my tax refund, I liked the idea of spending less money, so I asked to see if they had the Melissa & Doug train set in stock. While the sales woman went downstairs to check on the train set, I asked Grinchy what she thought about this seemingly extravagant purchase. She said she was along for the ride and we giggled.

The woman arrived back upstairs with a skeptical expression on her face.
"Yeah...the box is pretty heavy. I don't think you guys will be able to carry it home."
Grinchy and I looked at one another confused.

"How heavy is it?" I asked "Can I see it?" I went downstairs to take a look at the box.
First of all, the box was enormous. It was as tall as my refrigerator and when I tried to lift it, my guess is that it was at least 50 lbs.

"There's no way." I told Grinchy when I arrived back upstairs.
"Uh...how do people get these things home?!" I asked the sales lady.
"Hire a man with a van!" She said, like it was the most logical conclusion out there.

Grinchy and I turned to each other utterly perplexed and slightly amused.

"Yeah...how much is The Thomas Train table again?" I asked

It turned out that Thomas Train table was double the price, but (surprising) came in two over-sized boxes instead of one unmanageable scary box.

"It's going to be hard to carry home," the sales lady said with a frown "why don't you ask your husband to come get it?"

I quickly vetoed that option in my mind. Wil was watching both kids, and I knew that the minute I arrived home I needed him to set the train set up for me. I didn't want to overwhelm the guy.

Grinchy and I looked at one another and determined that we could do this. We each took an enormous box and dragged them to back to my apartment in the snow! When we got there, I called Wil and explained that we really needed his help, I'd gotten Ari a big present. He whined that he was feeding the baby. I told him that he didn't understand how big it was and how much help Grinchy and I needed.

Finally, he agreed to switch places with us. We went upstairs to watch the kids while he took the boxes upstairs. Once he realized what I got for Ari, he began to get excited. In fact, after he assembled the table itself, he ran back to the toy store, got Ari a complete train track set to go with the table, and set it all up! The process took hours, but it was worth it.


Ari is quite pleased with the results. Thank you Grinchy for a wonderful day of eyebrows, conversation, and train lugging.

Thank you babe for assembling Ari's train set!