More of Family Fun Week, days 4 and 5.

Since I did days 2 and 3 first, now we're on to days 4 and 5. Thursday August 12th we spent at the water park. I didn't even bring my camera. The kids and I all have passes, but Tyler was going to have to buy one. Well, he got into the wrong line, I told him to ask if it was the right line to buy a ticket, someone up ahead heard him and gave him an extra ticket they had! Yay! We rented a tube and took Micah and Jacob on all the "big kid" rides. The Black Hole, Vertigo and Vortex were among the favorites. Morgan was able to drive out with Dustin since she had just gotten her Drivers License! The Dockstaders had brought Essien and we were able to steal him when they left. It was a long day in the sun, longer than we spent at the water park any other day this summer. I haven't been wearing sunscreen the last month or so and I almost got a burn, I looked pretty pink for a few days. It was a fun day though.

Day 5, Friday the 13th! Oh what fun, one of my favorite days. It was miserably hot and somehow I still had a smile on my face at the end of the day. We went to StoryLand and PlayLand. Let me just say, they have done wonders with that place! I hadn't been since they put the Splash Junction in at PlayLand, so it was a pleasant surprise to see how good everything looked.
We got a great deal with a Groupon and we all had all day ride passes. Let's just say that we got more than our moneys worth with those! I also learned that my 2 youngest kids are my most daring. Ben will for sure be my ride partner for the most thrilling rides. We were in line to get on the train (from PlayLand to StoryLand) and go home. I really wanted to take Ben on the Ferris Wheel with me. I had just gone with Jacob and he wouldn't let me flip us over (it was a cage-like one that you could use a bar to make the cage flip). Ben said that he would let me flip him once and if he didn't like it I wouldn't do it anymore. So, we determined we had time for us to go. Ben let me flip him 10 times! He was a little scared but never cried or whined. He told me a few times that we had flipped enough. I said "Can we do it one more time for mommy?" He was such a great sport and he let me, more than a few times. It was so much fun.
Peyton went on the same Ferris Wheel with me but I didn't flip us. At first she was scared, then she said, "It's scary...I like it.!" I rocked us back and forth a bit and then I used the lever to hold the cage still but let go before we flipped. She will be a good ride partner in a few years too.

We all took took turns in Pirates Cove on the paddle boats.

After the first ride, the ferris wheel, we took Peyton on a kiddie roller coaster that was incredibly rough. After that she was done with rides for the next few hours and it took about 3 rides on the Merry Go Round bench in mom or dads arms until she would even sit on the small non-moving pony. After a few rides on that she finally wanted on a big up and down pony, yay! Then she didn't want off.

Splash Junction was a nice cool off break for the kids, minus Jake who hung out with Mom and Dad in the shade. I kind of wanted to chill out in the water too!

If Peyton is happy, in the least bit, she's jumping. Here she is, mid jump.

The biggest hit was the Tilt-A-Whirl. I rode it with each of my boys, many times. Many, many times. I don't get sick on rides and even I started to get a bit nauseated. If you ever go, buckets 4, 5, and 7 are the whirliest.

No idea why this picture loaded this way, but I had to get a picture in action. we laughed so much on this one.

Peyton kept wanting to go on the bug ride until we took her on the roller coaster. Somehow we finally got her on it and she DID NOT want to get off. She rode it at least six times (each ride is about 3 minutes)!

The race cars were a hit too.

The kids can't wait to go back and neither can I! I hope I can get them all to let me flip them on the ferris wheel! Tyler said he wouldn't let me flip him, but you know what? There isn't really any way he could stop me if I got him in it with me....