Glow

A while back I was in the party store and saw a package of glow in the dark balloons. I knew the girls would love them and they were only a few dollars so I picked them up and stashed them away. Maddy is usually asleep before it gets dark in the summer so we just waited for a night when we were all up to play with them. 

The night after Abi and I went to the Renfaire, the new American Girl movie was on tv. We let both girls stay up for a family movie night to watch it.

 When it was over it was dark outside so I decided to bring down the balloons. The girls loved it! We also got out some glow sticks and they played with those too.

 I tried to get some pictures but they weren't that impressive... but I did take this video that shows how cool they looked.

The Renfaire

I have wanted to go to the Renaissance Faire again for the past couple of years. The first time we went Abigail was really little and Doug wasn't into it. I love that kind of stuff so I thought it would be fun to try out again. 

 When I was looking at the local faire's website I saw a picture of their "unicorn". Abi just happened to see it and her eyes filled with tears as she said, "I KNEW unicorns were real!" 

 I had to take her to see that unicorn!

We went on the 14th during Celtic weekend. 

The first thing we did (after watching the awesome band Tartanic play by the front gates) was to go in search of Kira the Unicorn.

Abi and Kira

She was the happiest girl in the world. 

We then walked around for the next couple of hours. Abi enjoyed playing princess....

We caught a show in the children's area...

Abi thought it was hilarious!

She spent some time playing in the kids area..

Then we watched Tartanic again for a few minutes...

Abi wanted to try climbing the rock wall castle.

She got up one more step from this bottom picture before she got frustrated about where to hold on and came down.

Then we went to the Joust! It was my favorite part. It was so fun to watch and the guys played their parts so well.

The guy below was our knight (for our section). He was asking us how his hair was. It was funny.

He didn't win but came in 2nd. 

After this, Abi wanted to ride this ride...

She also enjoyed the misters... it was very hot.

A parting shot...

Six Flags Reward

Abi has a bookmark that records her time reading. Every 10 hours she gets to do a fun activity with me or Doug. 

The Tuesday that Doug's family left she cashed in on one of her dates with me. We got to go to Six Flags just the two of us at night. It was an amazingly fun night. 

Abi has become quite the daredevil on rides and wants to ride everything she is tall enough for (and wishes she could go on the super scary ones she isn't tall enough for). But I am a chicken. Yes, I admit it. So, for the most part this was the night when I told her I would ride anything she wanted to ride and we rode mostly new (to us) rides. I screamed a lot. She laughed at me. 

Our first ride was one that neither of us had ever gone on- The Whizzer. We both enjoyed it. It was scary enough to make it fun but not scary enough that I was freaking out. 

Then we went on The Demon. 

This is one of Abi's favorites and goes upside down twice and then barrel rolls a few times as well. I was pretty scared, not gonna lie. Plus it has been so long since I've gone on any ride that goes upside down that I completely forgot what it felt like. That was crazy. When we got off I was completely dizzy and wobbly. She thought that was hilarious. 

Next we went on the American Eagle. Here she is while in line for that.... excited to go on a HUGE rollercoaster, in her words. 

This point of the line was right under the tracks and it had just gone over her. So funny.

The American Eagle is a huge wooden roller coaster. It was great. Just my speed and Abi really enjoyed it as well although I am pretty sure that this was the only time of the night that she was actually a little scared- as we went up the hill that seemed to be going on forever and she could see how high we were and had no idea what to expect.

Next we went on her other favorite- The swings. (aka whirligig)

The log flume ride that she loves was closed but the other one we had never gone on was open- the Yankee Clipper. It was a big drop and we got soaked. I took this picture of us at the bottom because I didn't realize my undershirt was on backwards until my shirt got wet and you could see the printed on tag through it. It was so funny. As you can see, we got so wet. I know it is not the most flattering picture but I still had to post it because of the face Abi made. She wasn't scared at all and just did this for fun. I love it!

After the log ride we went on the indoor Batman ride. It is all dark and a pretty short ride but we both had fun on it. 

Then we went on the Condor. She had been on it before but I hadn't. I thought it would be really scary because it goes so high but it was actually really relaxing and so beautiful at night.

At this point we stopped at a little cafe and had a Funnel Cake sundae. We had never had a funnel cake of any kind before. It was really good. It is huge though and probably perfect for 3 people. Abi and I were both sick of sugar and done with it about 2/3rds into it.

After we were done with that we went over to the Ragin' Cajun. In Six Flags description it says, "a fast-track roller coaster that spins 360 degrees through hairpin turns and sudden drops."
Yeah, I don't like spinning. I get super dizzy. I hated the wild mouse at Lagoon when I was a kid and was totally traumatized on it once when I thought I was going to fly off the edges so I swore I would never go on this ride at Six Flags because it is so much like the mouse.

 But, every time we are there with Doug it has a really long line. It wasn't too bad tonight so I decided to be a nice mom and we went on it.

Yeah, a roller coaster that spins on curves so you feel like you are going to fly off and then goes down hills while spinning and pretty much constantly spun on the last part of it - I was so dizzy. It was insane. 

After this ride we watched the parade and then it was time for the park to close. There were still a few roller coasters we missed so she is hoping for another one of these nights to catch them. 

It was so much fun!

Jelly Belly

The next day was the last day Doug's family would be here. Doug had to go back to work, but the girls and I met them at Jelly Belly in the early afternoon for the tour. Afterward we hung out on the grass for a few minutes... 

Maddy with Wendy, Callie, and Mark...

Maddy with Grandfather and Grammy...

Mark and Callie....

The Cousins

Taylor, Maddy, Strauss, and Abi

After Jelly Belly we went to Cracker Barrel and then said our goodbyes.

Maddy, Wendy, and Abi

The hardest part of having visitors is always saying goodbye. We hate that! But we had a lot of fun and were so glad they were able to come out.

Six flags with family

Monday night we relaxed at home but Tuesday we met back up with Doug's family. We went to breakfast at IHOP and then down to Six Flags. First thing everyone got in line for X-flight but I have no interest in riding that so me and the girls were just going to watch. They had a problem with it and so the wait was extra long. Abi was getting bored and wanted to ride the nearby Buccaneer Battle. 

Maddy hates that ride so I told her she could only ride it if she could go on by herself. We tested her height and she could!

She was so excited!

She rode this back to back three times!

At this point we knew they would all be on the ride soon so we got some drinks and waited at a table so we could see them. I just looked for Doug's dads khaki pants and then I knew I had the right one!

While we waited for them to come off, Abi wanted to sit in the test seat.

Doug, Mark, Callie, Wendy, Strauss, and Taylor wanted to run around getting all the bigger rides so Doug's parents and I took the girls to the kids area. Abi didn't really have an interest in riding anything at this section so she just played in the water... even though she was not in a swimming suit. She got SOAKED!

Maddy and I rode the cars and airplanes and she played on the toys for awhile and then they were ready to move on to the next kids section.

In Grammy's hat...

Abi rode the kid roller coaster and the Scooby Doo bus with Doug's mom while Maddy rode the boats. Then they rode the boats together. As soon as they got off Abi took Maddy's hand and led her over to the kid ferris wheel. Maddy has always refused to go on this but this time she went right on. Of course by the time they got to the top, she was screaming so the guy had to quickly spin it around to have them back down to get Maddy out. Abi continued the ride on her own.

By this time we were done with this area too.. we had arrived at 9:30 and it was now around 1. We waited on some benches for the other family members to meet up with us and then we all went to lunch. 

Then on some more rides! 

Wendy and Abi on the hot air balloons.

Abi trying out the Superman seat...

Now everyone wanted to go over to a few more rides that the girls couldn't ride on so I told them I would just go to the front with the girls and ride the carousel and wait by the sky tower for them. 

Maddy had an accident so we spent some time in the bathroom washing her clothes and then rode the carousel. After that I took the girls to the candy store and let them each pick out something...

and then we waited...

When Abi saw me taking pictures she made funny faces...

Then she began dancing. She put on quite a show for all those around us. It was pretty funny.

After her dance we went to a new bench (the sun kept shifting on us so we kept seeking out shade!) Abi said her feet hurt so I had her take off her socks and shoes. They were still a little wet and she was shocked by her old grandpa feet from having them wet for so long.

The family finally met up with us and we rode the Sky Trek Tower and then left the park at about 5:30. We got refreshed and then met back up for dinner at Olive Garden. 

Maddy was having a great time...

Mark, Callie, Taylor, Wendy, and Abi

After dinner they came back to our house for a few minutes and Abi and Wendy played fairy.