Monday, July 31, 2006

Lessons Learned at Great America

On Saturday, Joel had his company picnic at Paramount's Great America. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to going. I hadn't been there since I was a teenager, and while I loved going there growing up, it didn't seem like the kind of place I wanted to be pushing a double stroller and looking for a place to nurse the babe. Just thinking about the busy, crowded place, on a Saturday, in the heat, with two young children...it made my skin crawl. I was on this side of annoyed before we left the house. But you know what? I was wrong. Very very wrong...

As it turns out, there are actually places within the park that are made for little kiddos. Imagine that! Sure, I remember them from my childhood, but they seemed small, and not very fun. As it turns out, it's just not very fun when you are 12. But when you are 2? It's the best place to be! Padyn had such a fantastic time. She went on rides by herself. I was sure she would cling to Daddy and after two or so attempts to get her to ride something so I could take the token picture, we'd head home for a nice nap. Nope. She was into it from the start. We stayed until 5pm! That's right ladies and gentlemen, we had no nap that afternoon. There was too much excitement to be had on the carousel, the cars, the snails, the airplane, the flying bugs, and in the water park. She really wanted to go on some other rides that she wasn't old enough for, like the bumper cars. We assured her that she could go on them in the future. (Does that mean I committed myself to taking her back there?) I was right about it being crowded, hot and hard to nurse. But you know what? It really didn't matter when I got to see this smile all day long.

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