Adventureland

Friday night we stayed up late visiting with my sister and her friend, who stayed with us for the night before heading to Montreal, Canada for some sort of certification for their cosmetology and asthetics classes. After getting up at 4:15am to get them to the airport by 5:00am, I came back home and slept a few more hours. Thank goodness, because the rest of the day we'd planned to spend at Adventureland - our closest amusement park. We got discount tickets through the state's foster and adoptive parents' association. They go every year, but we weren't able to go last year.

We'd actually planned to get there around 10, when they opened, but didn't make it there until 11. That worked out just fine though. We first went on the Giant Skywheel (huge ferris wheel). Then the Gallion (pirate ship) - Kaylen just laughed hysterically the whole time - she thought it was so fun how it tickled her tummy. Then the tea cups. The Skywheel was pretty good, but from the Gallion and the tea cups, Jock and I were thinking we're getting too old for this! Maybe next time we'll have to invite our older neices and nephews to go on some of the spinning ones! We then calmed our stomachs down a bit, had a bite to eat, and then rode the sky glider to the back of the park.

Kaylen was tall enough to ride the Tornado - just over 42 inches! The look on her face was priceless! I didn't get a picture though :( She just looked horrified when we went down the first hill, then the next couple she was laughing again. Then there's a big curve before a couple more big hills, and she again had the horrified look before I started laughing and got her laughing again too. Afterwards, she said it was fun. I told her she looked pretty scared for part of it and she totally denied it - that girl will do anything she sets her mind to, and pretend she likes it if she thinks that's what's expected. No other kids got off scared, so she of course was fine.

We later found out Kaylen was tall enough to ride the Dragon - their upside-down roller coaster. I can't imagine what her reaction to that would have been - she probably would never have come back - although with her, you never know!

We played it pretty cool for the rest of the day - the tilt-a-whirl, the circus show, the octopus ride (with daddy-I can't handle the up and down spinning on this one!), the log ride (I convinced her that she and I should ride in the back so daddy would get soaked, and we'd just get sprinkled - and it worked), then we got a caricature of her as a princess (albeit a tired one! as it was after 5 by then and we were all a little ragged), rode the carousel (we convinced her that we didn't need to ride the train because she rode the train at the zoo earlier in the summer), got ice cream and Jock got his fudge fix, and left for McDonald's and then home.

When we got home, we stopped by to visit with our neighbors at our block party for a little while, until the bugs started coming out. It was nice to meet a few more of them, and put names and faces, children and parents, everyone and their houses together. Maybe they'll have another one in the spring, and we can go to the whole thing, and meet some more. Also, there are still several empty lots, and a couple homes still for sale, so I'm sure there'll be more to meet. After that we all pretty much collapsed. Today we're recovering (well the adults are)! Kaylen was still a bit tired, but the nap took care of that, and now she's waiting for me to help her learn how to tie the laces on her new tennis shoes so she can wear them this week.

Jock and Kaylen on the Giant Skywheel:

Kaylen and I on the Carousel:

The view of the park from atop the Giant Skywheel:

And, our tired princess: