Lagoon

 The last weekend of September we took a family trip to Lagoon.  It's kinda become a Lyons family tradition, since Parker's dad gets about 6 free tickets every year from work.  I just can't believe how much fun we had this year!  One of the reasons this year was so great was because Caleb was tall enough to go on almost all of the rides!  He was so excited to get to go on the big roller-coasters like "the spider" and "wild mouse" and "colossus" and especially "wicked."  I'll never forget his face as he stood up to the measuring board and we told him he was tall enough to go on "wicked."  He got this cheezy grin, "I'm tall enough?!!......YES!  I'm tall enough to go on WICKED!"  Honestly I don't know how a 6 year old can stomach that ride though....I can barely handle it myself.  It goes 0-50 in like 5 seconds and then takes you up vertical, and then a vertical drop.  I screamed so hard I lost my voice.

 Angie was tall enough to go on quite a few rides too!  And she never got scared, which REALLY surprised me, since some of them were kind-of intense.  But she really enjoyed the kiddie rides, and luckily Caleb was happy to ride those with her too. 

 Last year at Lagoon, we arrived around 11:00 and were ready to go home by 5:00.  The kids were pooped, and hungry, and cranky.  THIS year was so much better.  They were older, and enjoyed themselves so much that we stayed until about 8:00!  It was well after dark.  I just couldn't believe it.  We left because we (the adults) were pooped....not the kids.  Caleb could have continued going on rides all night.  

 Baby Garrett was such a trooper too!  He sat in his carseat cradled in the stroller for pretty much the entire day.  Of course I took hiim out to feed him and burp him, and just love on him....but he spent most of the time asleep in that little chair. 

 We decided that Fall is the best time to go to Lagoon.  The weather was SOOO perfect!  We're usually battling extreme heat, but since we waited until the end of September to go....it was much more pleasant.  It was actually the first week of "Frightmares", so there were all kinds of halloween decorations around the park....and then as evening started to come in there were lots of people dressed up as zombies walking around and waiting to scare you.  I warned Caleb about the zombies, and pointed them out to him.  He made sure he kept his distance. 

 At one point, we decided to go to Pioneer village and hit the two wet rides.  We did the log plunge first.  Angie was NOT a fan.  She HATES getting wet unless it's in a well-heated swimming pool.  So naturally, a surprise splash while she's fully clothed brought on the water works.  She screamed and cried.....and then she got over it.  Then we went on Rattlesnake Rapids (a river raft ride).  I KNEW she was going to hate this one.  Luckly it's easy to move and change seats on this ride....so as we saw the splashes coming, I got up out of my seat and shielded Angie with my body.  As a result.....I was SOAKED!  And she STILL cried.  There were SOME splashes where the water just went over the side of the boat and landed in your lap.  So my butt was completely soaked....AND.....my shoes.  I wore tennis shoes and socks.....and after that ride, I removed my shoes and wrung out my socks.  A steady stream of water gushed out.  Aww man.  I walked the rest of the day in those squishy, wet, and now stinky shoes. 

After pioneer village we hit some of the bigger roller coasters.  Caleb went on "the colossus" FOUR times!  Once with Parker, once with me, and twice with Grandpa.  I'd forgotten how intense that ride was.  I screamed the entire time.  I really have no idea how Caleb could handle it FOUR times.  He rode more rides than any of us adults!  I have a feeling he may be hard to keep up with at an amusement park like this once he's a teenager.

While we were standing in line for "wicked" Paul and Claudia waited with Angie and Garrett.  At one point there was this car that started playing some music.  Angie decided to head on over and dance.  She danced for like five minutes straight!  And Grandpa videoed the whole thing.  It's pretty much the cutest thing you've ever seen. 

 After Lagoon we went to Aunt Jo's house and stayed the night.  Caleb LOVES going to Aunt Jo's house.  This just ADDED to his excitement from spending the day at Lagoon.  It was such an awesome experience to get to enjoy that with my kids.  Especially Caleb.....this trip was a milestone for him.  We really did have a blast.