Great Escape

A couple of weeks ago, our friends, the Uhls, invited us to spend the day with them at Great Escape. We love any excuse to hang out with these guys and we love amusement parks, so we were thrilled when we found a time that worked for both of our families. 

Ange and Bill showed us the ropes and planned it out just right, so we would hit all of the best spots in the park. We woke up to pouring rain that morning, but it all cleared up by the time we got to the park that afternoon. Perfect timing. We left for the park after church and got their in time for lunch. Once everyone had full bellies, we were ready to go. We did rides and the water park, the best of both worlds.

Ange and I hung back with the littlest ones, while the dads took everyone on this fun ride.

 

Abby loves rides...the faster the better. Rollercoaster, Tilt-a-Whirl, Free Fall, Log Flume...she wants to go on everything that spins, drops from the sky and accelerates rapidly. It is really fun to see her go for it with no hesitation when she has so many ride options in front of her. Matthew was more than happy to join her on all of it too. Ella is not a fan of anything that makes her belly flip. She likes going around slowly in a train or other slow moving vehicle. She doesn't do motion rides, but was so brave and did a few snuggled in next to her daddy.

When it comes to water, Ella is the thrill seeking, risk taker. She loves water slides and getting soaked. While Abby likes water, she is much more cautious before taking any kind of water risk.

Ella and Mason are little buddies. They are both two, but Mason is a bit older. I don't know why, but every time I look at them I think they could be related. They stuck it out together while everyone else was on the big kid rides. Without a friend to soften the blow, the reality of being left behind by the older kids would have been too much to bear. Look at those little faces!

Mason was ready to through himself over the rail and onto the boat with everyone else. Poor guy! Those height restrictions make being two really hard!

This is Ella's speed!

Matthew and Abby on the Free Fall (check out the video below)

with Maddy

Abby refused to be treated like a "little" kid while we were there because Maddy is eight and Abby wanted to be just like her. At one point, I reached for her hand and she gave me a "Mom, I'm too old to hold hands" look. Nearly killed me. I'm glad she was over it by the time we got home. She's not grown up yet! It was fun to see her express more independence though, especially since she was only two feet in front of me. If she wasn't walking side by side like a big girl with Maddy, she was holding hands with Matthew. It was adorable.They would just grab hands and start walking. Most of the time, Abby was holding Matthew's hand and dancing to the loud music. Seriously, she's just like me. The loud beats would start and her shoulders started involuntarily pumping. That's right girlie, you got all musical talents from Daddy, but your momma gave you your rhythm. :)

Then, there were the moms! I saw one of my favorite childhood rides. You know the one that spins around so fast your body gets pinned to the outside of the car and plays really loud music? Yeah that one. It's a staple in nearly every amusement park, some fairs and every boardwalk! The best is when it's night time, so the lights are bright and the music is pumping. The good ones even start going forward and then switch and spin in reverse! Well, I convinced Ange to do it with me. It was hilariously fun, especially to see our families faces as they watched us spin. And just like that we retain the title of cool moms!

We closed out the park and within minutes of our drive home, the girls were out like a light. Ella even transferred right to her crib when we got home and slept right through the night.

It was a great day and we're so thankful to the Uhls for inviting us! Now I leave you with a video of Abby and Matthew free fallin'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE8bUgKyQYM&index=4&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ