Dutch Wonderland

For years friends had been telling us about a theme park called Dutch Wonderland that was designed for kids. It sounded like a great idea, but the price just seemed excessive for a kids' park. But a combination of a Groupon deal and Aaron's birthday finally gave us the nudge we needed to go.

Jon and I split the day: I took the big kids for the morning, then we swapped and I had the littles for the afternoon. My kids are not daredevils by any stretch of the imagination, so I may have had to use coercion and/or deception to get them on a few of the more intense rides. They ended up loving all of them except the old wooden roller coaster (which even I didn't enjoy as much: too much brain-joggling).

On the log ride (which ended up being their very favorite)

Bumper cars

Seth may have caused a traffic jam with his excellent steering abilities.

Ready for the dive show and braving the splash zone.

Seth chose to sit literally as far from the splash zone as possible.

Riding the Sky Ride with Daddy.

Elise had no fear of heights and constantly crawled around during the ride.

I was sure she was going to fall out under the guard rail.

Very proud that they were big enough to ride solo.

I put the youngest three on this ride thinking it would be a fun, relaxing ride.

I didn't realize it would whip them around the corners crazy fast.

Aaron took a few turns to get used to it, but Elise... Elise was ECSTATIC.

She was laughing hysterically every time it whipped her around.

Riding the train together

Monster truck drivers

There was really only one ride in the park that was super thrilling: Merlin's Mayhem. But, of course, my kids were terrified of it and refused to go on. Jon finally made a deal with Seth: if he went on the ride, we would go to Golden Corral for dinner (Seth's favorite). I didn't think he would do it, but I guess food is a good motivator! 

We all had a blast! Definitely worth doing at least once or twice while our kids are little. The day after we got home Elise was already crying, asking to go back to ride the "baby rockets" (her favorite). Good thing we happened to get free tickets to go back again!

Elise

This little girl is still just too much of everything. Her teachers always tell us how sweet and cooperative she is: guess I should be grateful she saves all of her...enthusiasm for home?

Reading about dinosaurs has the same effect on me, too.

Sorry, Aunt Bubba.

August means time to start prepping for school to start (Nooo!).

Elise was happy to model Catherine's backpack:

Another "ready to go to bed" ensemble:

And yes, she did sleep in her swimsuit.

Several times.

Sometimes (most times) it's just not worth the battle.

Aaron & Ashley

We were so excited to have Aaron and Ashley come visit for a few days! In fact, (my) Aaron was so enthusiastic about sharing a room with Seth during their visit that he literally emptied his drawers and moved EVERYTHING in:

Things didn't quite go as planned for their visit, sadly. We enjoyed a lovely dinner/date night on the bay (Timmy joined us as well) while our favorite Kaia watched our kids. Unfortunately, Elliot managed to hurt his leg on the trampoline while we were out. It was serious enough that Ashley took him into Urgent Care the next morning to see if it was broken (it was very similar to Catherine's broken leg trampoline injury). Thankfully it was just a sprain, but it did put a damper on our plans to hike Kilgore. 

We loved playing games, getting to know Annie, and getting my computer fixed (thanks, Aaron!). Wish we could do this more often! Also, I should take more pictures. This one that Catherine took of Annabelle is all I have from that entire weekend...oops.