The Great Escape

We've had season passes for the Great Escape the past few years, but with a tyrannical two year old and a new baby, we decided the logistics would make it too tricky this year. The girls were disappointed, but we've managed to keep busy and haven't really missed going. We were all pretty excited to find that Global Foundries Family Day was at the Great Escape this year so we could at least go once.

It was easily the most difficult day we've had there, as expected, but MiniM.E., LittleL.G. and SlimJim all had a tremendously fantastic time, so I'm super happy we got to go once this year and even happier we won't have to go again.

And no day long trip at the Great Escape is complete without ice cream from Martha's(that nobody ate- good thing Daddy didn't eat all his shaved ice!).

Great Escape Lodge and Indoor Waterpark

Last year we stayed overnight at the Great Escape Lodge and Indoor Waterpark and on the drive home vowed that we would wait at least a couple years before trying it again.

And then we decided to go again anyway.  MiniM.E. has been subtly dropping hints that she's like to go to the waterpark again by doing things like loudly jumping around and singing about the waterpark and spending long hours asking repeatedly when we can go again.  Finally we bit the bullet and booked a night with the underlying plan to get the good deal on Great Escape season passes so we can use the indoor waterpark and the outdoor waterpark and the theme park whenever we want. It's so close that we could just drive up for a couple hours and it will be nice to have another activity.

Even though we also said last year that we would just drive home to sleep since it was ridiculous to try to put two kids to bed in a hotel and we woke up so early with nothing to do, we figured it couldn't be as bad as last year... 

So we packed up all our stuff and left yesterday afternoon to arrive for check in.  MiniM.E. was SO excited.

We arrived and the girls were trying to get their bathing suits on before we'd even set everything down.

While we finished getting everything settled and got ourselves ready to go to the waterpark the girls played the iPad.

LittleL.G. was a little timid at first

But MiniM.E. jumped right in!

Maybe a little too quickly because a knee scrape after one of her first slides almost had us heading home after less than half an hour at the park.  It took a bit, but we finally convinced her to stay and keep playing and we had a great evening.  

The girls were tired after two hours so we went back to the room to order pizza.  Definitely an improvement over eating at Johnny Rockets like last year.

Putting the kids to bed went well too!  And for a few hours we thought we had it down... 

Until LittleL.G. woke up and WOULD NOT go back in her crib.  For hours.  And then, after finally going back to sleep, woke up an hour later and WOULD NOT go back in the crib.  After finally going back to sleep again, at least the girls slept in until 6:30.  We did our breakfast at Denny's and instead of heading right back decided to take a walk around Wal-Mart for a while to kill some time.

It worked out well because as soon as we got back it was time to get dressed for the park!

Another great day of playing (and napping for LittleL.G., who was tired for some reason...).  MiniM.E. even did some of the big kid slides this year!!  And we more than doubled our previous record of 1.5 hours for day 2 and stayed until after lunch!

Even though we weren't planning on it, we all had a great time this year (forgetting about the sleeping part).  See you again soon with our season passes!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Our long weekend started out as a blank canvas. In fact I it took me a few days to realize why everyone kept asking what I was doing this weekend because I forgot it was a long one! Since we had zero plans from the start we decided to be spontaneous and just go and do things!

We started Saturday at the Great Escape. The plan was only to do the waterpark since this was our third weekend going up, but though we thought the waterpark opened at 10 (when we arrived) it actually opened at noon, giving us two hours to bake in the sun and ride some rides in 80+ degree weather. By the time the waterpark actually did open we were pretty tuckered out and only lasted an hour or so.

We got home from Great Escape and prepared to go to a BBQ in the evening.  Had a great time there and got home a little late.

Sunday after church, we headed to the spray ground downtown.  After being out in the sun and heat all day yesterday we were all a bit tired.  The girls had a great time for a while...

But it was soon obvious that we all just needed a nap...

LittleL.G. took a nap and we prepared to host an improptu BBQ at our house.

It was a late night, both girls were up way past their bedtimes.

So maybe we should have figured that a trip to the beach Monday would have been too much. But we tried it anyway. The hour we spent there was very pleasant, but I think what we all needed was a relaxing day at home, swimming in the inflatable pools in the yard and sitting in the adirondack chairs. And that's how we spend the rest of the day.

The First Great Escape of the Season

For the past couple years we've had season passes to the Great Escape. We love being able to go up for just a couple hours in the afternoon or to not feel bad if we plan for the day and decide to leave early. Last year LittleL.G. grew into some of the kiddie rides and now can ride alone with MiniM.E. which is great for Daddy and me because as a grown up, spinning around leaves me feeling yucky all day!

I was a little unsure of how BabySlimJim would do this year since he's old enough to see the fun stuff and know he's missing something, but not really old enough to do the rides. Everyone had a great time. BabySlimJim included. He got so excited he even signed "train" for the first time!

C & H's 5th Annual Summertime Visit

C. & H. have visited us (almost) every summer since MiniM.E. was a baby. This year we planned a long weekend of all their favorite NY activities: Spray Park, Animal Land and the Great Escape.

They arrived Thursday night. Since the weather was pretty terrible all week and we only made it to one swim lesson, we dragged them along to swimming on Friday morning. H. and LittleL.G. played in the kiddie pool while MiniM.E. had her lesson.

In the afternoon we went to the Spray Park.

And came home for some outside time and a BBQ.

Saturday we headed to Adirondack Animal Land. Everyone had a great time with the animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And stopped for ice cream on the way home.

Then we roasted hotdogs over the fire for dinner.

Yesterday we spend the day at the Great Escape and C. & H. left for home from there since it was half an hour closer to home.

Thanks for coming, C. & H.!!