Weinermobile Comes to Missoula!

Truly, what COULD be better on a week-long Spring Break full of grey and blustery days than a visit from the Oscar Mayer weinermobile?  Not too many things.

Back in the day when Thomas first started going to daycare, he would cry and cry and cry.  He'd stop as soon as I left him at my friend Jill's house, so the crying was strictly a theatrical performance for my benefit.  Nonetheless, I resorted to strong parenting techniques and careful consideration of his needs.  Um...actually I didn't.  I bribed the little guy.  At the time, Thomas was into cars.  I mean IN TO CARS.  He would line them up, stack them up, flip them over, drive them across the brand new stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher and stove (pressure was off on scratching those suckers VERY quickly), and would, in essence, love the cars to death.  Now...Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars are not necessarily cheap, especially when you have to bribe your child with a car a day five days per week (yes, you may exclaim "WHAAAAAAAT?" now).  Hey...he's the baby of the family and the baby of the family gets what he wants.  Did I mention that I AM also the baby of my family?

I digress...

So in an effort to cull the tide of matchbox-hot-wheels-debt, I did what any other sane mother would do.  What?  Wean him from his car addiction?  I think not.  I resorted to far more creative endeavors.  Ebay.

I would search the "GIANT LOT OF MATCHBOX LOOK!" ads and look carefully at the contents for interesting vehicles and then I would place my bid.  47 vintage matchbox cars for $18.00 + shipping?  I'm IN.

To make a long story longer...one of the lots had a weinermobile.  Now, I am NOT a fan of hot dogs.  I consumed many in my day when I was younger, but the thought of these suckers just turns my stomach.  Thomas, however, is a hot dog aficionado.  But when I saw the weinermobile in this Ebay listing, I decided I had to have it.  Despite my disgust for hot dogs, I am a fan of the weinermobile.  As a child I always wanted to see it, but it was never in my neighborhood.  Until THIS week.  And to the weinermobile we went...in gusty winds of 30 mph we drove to the Wal-Mart parking lot and there, in all it's mustardy greatness, it stood.

Our Hot Dogger (I forgot her name) was actually a recent college graduate from Pittsburgh!  She was excited that we had roots in da Burgh and that we were fellow Steelers fans.  Thomas was excited to look around the inside of the vehicle, which sported a squiggly line of mustard down its center and weinermobile embellishments on the seats (you can see one behind Thomas' head).   Thomas was especially impressed with the "bun-roof".  He was most concerned with how they drove the thing, and more so how they parked it.  How DO you parallel park a weinermobile?  Between two buns?  He asked our Hot Dogger lots of questions and she rewarded him with nothing less than a Weiner Whistle to add to his collection.

When little things think BIG...

Thomas was dwarfed by this car.  He thought it was pretty cool.

Blowing his weiner whistle...

Thomas is also a new fan of bologna.  My brother would be so proud.  On the way home I told him about the Oscar Mayer bologna song and he wanted to learn it.  We then had a song-creation contest.  He deemed me the winner with this little ditty:

I have a little boy...
T-H-O-M-A-S...
And most days he's a joy, but others he's a mess...
Oh, he loves a sandwich every day,
In fact, it's in his DNA...
'Cause Thomas likes to have his way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A.

Thank you, thank you...I'll be here all week.

Unfortunately, the weinermobile will not.  It's off to points unknown...but we enjoyed it while we could.