We took a short drive down the NYS Thruway on Friday and took the boys to Darien Lake for the day. It was overcast and cool when we got there. A perfect day for an amusement park visit!
Ian had a wonderful time at Darien Lake. He did a great job taking turns, standing in line, holding hands, etc. Our biggest issue was that we pretty much had to drag him away from a few rides kicking and screaming. If it were up to him, he would have ridden only 1 ride that day. (That would have been unfortunate since the first ride of the day was the carousel!)
Ian’s first big boy ride was something called “Raging Seas” (I believe). We had so much fun and were both laughing our heads off. I think we rode this 3 times in a row!
Overall, Ian didn’t really understand that there were a ton of different rides to go on and that it would be fun to try them all out. 🙂 We had to pretty much drag him away and show him the next ride…at which point, he’d love it and not want to leave. Aaaah!!!
We finally had to explain that he had a 2 ride limit on each ride we tried. After 2 rides, we had to go try something else. It helped a lot but we still periodically had issues. No amusement park visit would be complete without a tantrum-ing toddler, right? 😉
After the “Raging Seas” ride, we went over to the old fashioned cars ride. This was a great ride for Ian as he was able to steer and drive the car like a big boy.
We even went back at the end of the day so that Ian could ride a few more times with Daddy!
I think Ian’s favorite ride was what he called “bumpy roller coaster”. He probably rode this ride 15-20 times. Because he loved this ride so much, we bent our 2 ride maximum rule and let him ride over and over again. As a result, I think about half of his turns on this ride was straight in a row without getting off! It probably comes as no surprise when I say that we had the hardest time getting him away from the roller coaster!
I can’t really blame him for his obsession with the roller coaster. He comes from a long line of roller coaster enthusiasts (well, except for his daddy)!
What’s a kid to do but throw caution to the wind and put those hands in the air!?!
We had a nice break in the day when we stopped to watch the Bob the Builder show. Ian LOVED the show! One of the park employees even commented to me on how much fun Ian had!
He was beyond excited to go up on stage for a picture with Bob!
Ian checked out a few more of the kiddie rides after the Bob the Builder show.
Ian and I rode this awful, terrible, no good, torture device…it was the first time in my life that I nearly got sick on a ride!
Here we are before it started moving when I thought all was okay with the world.
And here you can watch me turn green as the ride starts moving!
Ian and Daddy rode some teacups!
While Ian was on the swing ride, he saw a water ride that he was interested in. Unfortunately, Ian was too short to go on it so Mike and Ian made the best of the situation. They walked over and stood on the bridge that crosses over the boats. They got a HUGE splash!
(Advance the video to the 1 minute mark to skip a whole lot of boring nothingness!)
Big smiles for everyone!
Ian was super excited to try out the bumper cars!
Unfortunately, he just couldn’t seem to get the car to move. He was so confused!
Matthew was a very good boy at the park. For the most part, he sat in his stroller and people watched.
We got him out periodically to stretch his legs.
He even went on a ride!
And of course, there was much napping!
All in all, it was a great day! Ian was having such a good time that we hated to leave but based on how quickly the boys fell asleep, I think we left at the perfect time!
Because no one in their right mind wants to read a blog post with all 72 pictures, here is a LINK to all of the pictures! Enjoy!
Ian and Matthew’s first trip to an amusement park!
14 cherry tomatoes!
And more are going to be ripe very soon.
We also have lots of green peppers growing and a cute little pumpkin!
I can’t wait to see what else we get before the summer is gone!
First we met up with a friend I met on the internet.
Megan lives in Florida but she grew up in Muncie. She and her sweet little daughter Ava were in town visiting at the same time WE were in town visiting. We met at a playground on the grounds of Ball State University. Megan, Ava, Matthew and I sat around chatting while Ian and Michael played on the playground.
We took this picture before we left:
After that we went to lunch and then to the nursing home to visit Grammy Singer. It was Grammy’s birthday so we had cake and took lots of pictures (I don’t have any b/c I didn’t have my camera inside the nursing home).
Matthew conked out mid-birthday celebration and slept all the way through “good-byes” and walking out to the car.
Here he is in the parking lot with the waffle pattern from his blanket imprinted on his cheek:
Next, we went to Grammy and Papaw Jones’ house for a whole lot of playing. It seemed like there were about 2,000 people there including 6 kids under the age of 5-ish. As a result, no pictures. The camera bag was too far away, blocked by about 5 people and I held a sleeping Matthew for 75% of the visit. 🙂
After we left the Jones’, we went to dinner at Long John Silvers.
Inside of Long John Silvers, hanging on the wall, were 2 half cars. It was meant to look like a car had driven through the wall and was stuck. Ian was COMPLETELY terrified of them. He was convinced they were going to fall.
It would have been mildly frustrating and amusing if we hadn’t been sitting UNDER one of them. He was so freaked out that we had to get up and find another seat. Before we moved, he was trying to move the stuff on the table out of the way. Poor guy.
Things improved once we moved but he barely ate and we spent most of the meal convincing him that it was just a “car picture” and not going to fall down.
Despite the trauma of the decor, Ian was pretty excited to wear his pirate hat and transform into “Pirate Captain Ian”.
For the last stop of the trip, we went to Papaw Singer’s house and played in the front yard.
Andrew had himself a good time running around a light pole in the yard.
Grammy snagged him for a quick picture. 🙂
The boys enjoyed getting up on the front porch behind Papaw Singer:
I think Papaw enjoyed himself. 🙂
There was a bunch more playing and even a visit by Aunt Sherri, Uncle Bill and Cousin Matt!
After it started getting dark, we said our good-byes and headed back to the hotel for some packing and bedtime for the wee little boys.
(Tuesday’s trip back home was uneventful and quiet thanks to Mr. Dual-Screen Portable DVD Player. No pictures!)
Can’t wait for our next trip back to Muncie!!!
A day late but I cannot be held responsible for Time Warner problems. 😉
Ian pretend chatting on the phone
May 2007