Harrison and Brooke didn't have school on Friday, so we got to enjoy a 3 day weekend. Well, 5 out of 6 of us did. Sorry, Rob.
Friday morning I woke up well before the kids and ran out to grab some Halloween donuts to start off our weekend right. The night before I decided the kids and I were going to hit up our favorite u-pick pumpkin patch. It's a 40 minute drive from our house, but I love it so much we still go to this specific patch even though there are at least 20 u-pick patches closer to us. Within 2 minutes of getting there Clark fell and busted his lip and I then had blood all over my shirt. We should have given up then, but we kept at it and wound up with 5 great carving pumpkins, 4 kids who were over it, and 1 mom who just wanted a picture of all her kids at the pumpkin patch. I'm sure you can figure out who won that battle. (hint - not me)
The 40 minute drive home resulted in car naps as opposed to real naps, but everyone stayed in a good mood for the rest of the day. Rob got some free tickets to go to a local haunted house, and we decided H and B would be good to go. This particular haunted house, The Haunted Castle, is put on by boy scouts. Sounds pretty tame right? That's how I remember it being. More Halloween fun house than haunted house. They've changed a lot since the last time I went 15 years ago, because it was definitely more haunted house and taking two 5 year olds was probably not the best idea. Brooke was ready to leave 30 seconds after we walked in the door, and I had to carry her the entire way through. I'm lucky I didn't pass out from lack of oxygen due to her death grip around my neck. We made it all of the way through and rewarded their bravery the way any good parent does, with ice cream on the way home. ;) I thought for sure we'd wind up with them in our bed in the middle of the night, but that hasn't happened yet.
Saturday morning we were up and out the door early again, this time for Wild Zoo Halloween. I took all 4 kids by myself, which I'm painfully learning is not as easy as it once was. I think they all had fun which is really all that matters. It was perfect weather to spend the morning outside, but my 3 bears were hot in their bear costumes, so I would up with 2 normal kids, a puppy dog, and Goldilocks. Thanks to a pit stop for lunch on the way home, we made it without anyone falling asleep. Yay, saved nap time. An all 4 kids nap time on top of that!
We dropped off Jules at doggie daycare and then headed to the lake to spend the night at my parents. We went out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant on the lake. The kids ate their weight in chips, salsa, and queso while we watched the sun set over the lake.
For the first time in about 8 months, Scareltt woke up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep. Around 3:15 am I woke up to her yelling "mom" in her pack and play. I tried laying her back down and tucking her in, bring her into bed with Rob and I, putting on her sleep sack in case she was cold. I eventually had to rock with her in a my mom's recliner for about 45 minutes until she was asleep enough for me to put her back to bed. As soon as I laid back down, Brooke was up to go to the bathroom. Then Harrison was awake and talking. Then he was out of bed and downstairs in bed with my mom. At 6:30 I finally said eff it and stayed up, which wouldn't be a big deal except we were road tripping with the big kids, so there would be no nap time.
Harrison and Brooke have been talking about Cedar Point for months, and they are finally 48" tall, big enough to do some big rides, so we decided to take them before CP closes up for the season. We watched a whole lot of roller coaster POV videos on YouTube before we left hoping it would get them excited about the big rides. They were excited but scared.
We started out on the racing carousel, then went with a mild roller coaster. Everyone was still good then. Harrison wouldn't stop talking about the Millennium Force, so we went and got in line. In the 20 minutes we were in line, both kids decided they didn't want to go. I tried bribery, and it worked on one of them. Harrison was ready to ride it, but Brooke refused. I thought Harrison was going to die during the ride. It was so much more than he was ready for. When it was done he said he liked it, but it was scary, and he laughed and cried a little. There was a guy in front of us who told Harrison how awesome it was that he rode it and that he did a great job. I think that helped with Harrison's emotional state after the ride. We told him how proud we were of him for being brave, and he insisted he didn't want to ride again.
I got Brooke to ride the "big swing," Skyhawk, with me. I almost feel bad for encouraging them to ride big rides, but not really. I want them to grow up loving roller coasters as much as I did. Riding Skyhawk did not create a love for thrill rides in our little girl. After the excitement of a couple big rides the kids were ready for something more their speed, bring on Camp Snoopy. They were so happy running around there doing the kid rides.
Brooke didn't go on any more roller coasters for the rest of the day, but she rode every ride we saw. Harrison asked to do the Millennium Force again with his dad, so they did. I managed to walk onto one of my favorite rides, Wicked Twister, while the kids were waiting in line with Rob. We ended the day with a few games, and Brooke won a ginormous pink emoji. Just what we need in our house.
The day was magical. If I could do it over and over again I would. My parents took us almost every year when we were kids, and they are some of my favorite memories. Running around the park with my brothers and sisters and then meeting up with my parents for a picnic lunch.We would ride from the time the park opened until it closed, sometimes riding every coaster in the park. We are all already looking forward to going again next year. Do you think they'll grow another 4-6 inches before next summer so we can take them on even more rides that will scare the heck out of them?
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