Carowinds

Today, we seized the opportunity to get away and have some fun courtesy of our Give Kids the World Passport.  It is an amazing gift given to all their child alumni.  For the one year after your Make A Wish trip, your family may visit over 100 amusement parks in the country for one day free of charge.  It is an incredible blessing that makes the emotional and psychological benefits of wish trips last even longer.  Things around our house have been stressful and emotional lately and we are gearing up for a long week of appointments at the hospital starting bright and early tomorrow.  So it seemed fitting that today we would take a break from it all and have some fun at Carowinds...

The kids had a ball riding all the rides at Planet Snoopy...

 

One of the benefits of going now is that the crowds are light and the lines are short.  The kids were able to stay on most of the rides over and over again.  I think this was their 4th flight? And just as exciting as the first :)

I love that they are at the age where they love the kiddie rides just as much as the big rides...

Neither of them had any hesitation to jump on the roller coasters, too! I must say I was not that daring at their age.  They rode everything they were tall enough to ride.

For Carter that included one of the bigger coasters with the bar over the top and your feet dangling beneath.  He rode it twice in a row and even volunteered to ride in the front seat!

Julia was very sad to be too short.  She must have measured herself a dozen times.  It won't be long.

There were plenty of other fun rides to keep her distracted.  She loved driving the cars.  They were really cool old-fashioned corvettes...

Daddy and Uncle Anthony rode a few of the big rides and then joined us again.  I think The Intimidator had done him in though because he almost lost his cookies on the pirate boats...

I must say it did some serious bouncing and spinning (that would be why it was Daddy's turn to ride).  He went into right after The Intimidator.  I think 39 may be the age limit for being hurled 211 feet at 75+ miles an hour.  Not for the faint of heart or stomach...

It didn't take that kind of height or speed to remind me I'm not a kid anymore.  Somewhere around this point...

I was thinking, "Man I feel dizzy and lightheaded. I am getting too old for this." I really think the peak for amusement park years is 18-24.  After that it is just painful.  The long list of precautions and red Xs on the entrance signs should just say, "Middle-aged parents best not ride."  I much prefer to be the smiling, waving, picture-taking, pack mule parent waiting by the gate :) That works for me.  Unless we're talking about the Carousel, I can do that.  After two consecutive trips on The Scrambler today I was feeling, well... scrambled.

Overall it was a great time...

topped off with one of the highlights from the day... The Icee Mixer!

15 flavors of Icee paradise! It was like Feeney's for slurpee fans :)  I'm thinking I need one of these walls in my kitchen. And yes, we went back for refills :)

We all left hot, tired, happy, and hungry.

A great day finished off by a great meal at Cracker Barrel.  Billy and I spent the meal telling the kids about all the things that weren't invented when we were kids and when there grandparents were kids.  It was hilarious! You should have seen their faces at the idea that we didn't have cordless phones, DVDs, remote controls, kids' TV channels, or computers.  Carter said he loves to eat the old-fashioned food and hear about old history.  Yes, that would be us :)

The whole conversation started last week when I pulled out an old VHS tape for the kids.  I then told them it had to rewind first.  If your ever bored and want a challenge, try explaining to your preschoolers what "rewind" means and why you have to wait.  Julia just looks at me like I'm nuts.