A Dutch Wonderful Day with Friends!

Our summer was filled with trips to amusement parks...and today we returned to Dutch Wonderland for one final visit.  This one was the Absolute best b/c we met up with most of our preschool crew.   
Can you say Most.Fun.EVER?!

We girls in our boots are ready to go!

 Most of our crew-

 Facebook post: At the "kingdom for kids" with our favorite royalty!!!

 

Uh oh, is this a flash-forward to 15 years from now 

when little sister is joy-riding with All her "big brothers???"

 Oh sure, we're all friends here...but you put us in those bumper cars and it's On!!! 

{Holy cow! This was SO much fun!!!} 

No worries...Graeme was tall enough to ride 

(but we did have to measure just to be sure!)

Practicing their roller coaster faces on the Joust-

 
Yup, practice makes perfect...

actual riding faces are similar to previous practice shot. :p

Brett has been wanting to go to an amusement park with Brady's friends forever (I have too...but b/c their parents are My friends- lol!).  Brett thought it would be great for Brady to experience things with his buddies and said he'd have so much more fun.  Tru dat!!!  So they go off to ride a "bigger kid" coaster and Sylvie and I stay behind with a few other moms and smaller ones.  Kristin comes back and says, "Brady was great! He got off the ride and goes, 'that was Awesome!'"  I was happy to hear it...and then LOLed when Brett told me the whole story.  He said Brady got off the ride and had an unsure look on his face, but then Evan said, "That was Awesome!" So Brady yelled, "That was Awesome!" (apparently just in time for Kristin to catch the latter reaction).  hahahahaha!!!  Now, THAT was awesome! :p

These boots are made for Sky-Ridin' and that's just what they're doing! 

(Sylvie and Mommy feet- and cutie Sylvie hand)

 It takes a village to...ensure your children have fun at amusement parks!  ha! I was telling Liz, "Awesome! Kristin is riding with Sylvie so I don't have to get dizzy." and she replies, "Yeah, the other Tiffany just did that for me when she rode the Twister with Wes." Yes, amusement parks with friends (for us ALL...kids and parents!) is the way to go!

This was the photo taken when Brett realized the reaction the camera flash caused...which resulted in entertainment that made my stomach Hurt from laughing! 

Here's the story- so we all went on the Fun Slide...and it started drizzling rain.  This, in and of itself was FUNny.  James, Liz, and I got ab workouts- from pushing ourselves plus the two-year-old in our laps on this wet slide just to make it go.  Well, the drizzle quickly turned to Pouring Down Rain...and a Thunderstorm.  The park is clearing out...and we're all waiting it out together at one of the game stations.  Wesley (above) put his hand on one of the toy guns at the exact moment that lightning flashed.  This caused Everything in the booth to react- so things are whistling, lights are flashing.  James, Wes's dad, was hilarious.  He goes, "Gotta admit. I don't think it's a bad thing that this happened at the exact moment Wes touched that gun. He's never going to touch a gun again.Ever!" :p  Anyway, so we didn't make the connection of the lightning flash and the reaction.  But then Wes and Sylvie were so cute sitting and sharing snacks that I took their picture...and BAM!  Everything went off again and startled us all.  Brett realized what happened and said, "Do you think it was the camera flash?"  Oh, the hilarity that ensued!!!!  I was laughing SO hard...after about 10 times it finally occurred to me to take video.

Facebook post: Ready, Aim, FLASH!!! I concede that it is against my better judgement to allow the kids to play with toy guns, but um, what else are you going to do when it's Lightning out at the amusement park?! sheesh! :p  I love that I can continually re-live this hilarity and cry laughing Every time I watch this video!

By the time it stopped raining, the park had cleared out.  At first there were only a few rides re-opened.  Bumper cars were one of them...so off we went, b/c as Chad said, "Of course, we'd go drive sparking electric cars with our children after a thunderstorm when it's all wet. duh!" :)  We spent almost 1.5 hours in there- just riding over and over again and smacking in to each other!  The kids trash-talking was Hilarious.  Mostly it was "I'm coming for you Mr. Chad!" "Gonna get you Mr. Graeme!"  We even switched kids a few times, at their request.  Brett and I rode with Cameron or Maddie while Sylvie or Brady rode with Ms. Tiffany or Mr. Graeme.

After maxing out at the bumper cars, we hit up the Hopper (eternal fav) and the Wonder Whip again-

Hoppy = Happy!

 WonderWhip faces make for WonderPicts! :p

 WonderWhip with one of your BFFs...who has the same humor 

and will make goofy faces with you...WonderFULL indeed!

 "when a good time comes around, you must Whip it!

you will never live it down, unless you Whip it!"

 "no one gets away, until they Whip it!

I say Whip it!"

"Whip it good!"

What's a little cotton candy among friends before dinner? 

Super sticky fun and no crying b/c we have closed the place and have to leave. 

 awesome.

 Indeed, the Kingdom for Kids!

 Obligatory "now it's time for funny face!" photo at Carter's request. 

Apparently "The Scream" was Cam's muse for a funny face- ha!

Next we headed to Cici's Pizza for family dinner before hitting the road.

Reserved parking turned designated group hug site.
Good night friends!

 

Leesburg Airshow

Daddy's off to see the Hokies play (locally) today.  Half-pint Hokies wanted to help him clean off the car this morning-

The kids and I "pre-gamed" at the Leesburg Airshow- 

Here's our version of tailgating :)

This guy got our "attennnnn....shun!"

 Face painting-

Some food and then naps...ironically, this may be strikingly similar to Daddy's day at FedEx field to see the Hokie game. ha!

I'm making myself a note here.  This was the moment I found out our future home was coming on the market.  As I was taking this picture, my friend Kevin was calling me.  I didn't pick up b/c I didn't want to talk and wake the kids.  He texted me a moment later, "My neighbor on the corner just put a for sale sign up."  Brett's been "stalking" this neighborhood for years.  I'm now on board and we've had our realtor try to solicit sellers by sending a letter to all the homes in the neighborhood.  We know Kevin and Joy from daycare- Brady & Bella and Sylvie & Hayes.  LOVE them!  I did a drive by and it's the model we love (and there's only a handful of them in the neighborhood).  I took a pict, sent to Brett, and the craziness began.  Kevin called his neighbor and did some recon for us.  Our friendship with the Morels is what got us in the house before it went on the market and allowed us to have a ratified contract before it even went in to the MLS. 

 "And we're moving....."  (!)

Pumpkin Decorating

We bought pumpkins for the playground fund at Brady's school.  So tonight we had fun festive activities.  First they washed their pumpkins.  ha, I know it sounds lame, but #1, the pumpkins were dirty and #2, they had a Blast making "shiny pumpkins" by "giving them a bath."  lol!

 Wash and dry service-

Hoping to minimize the mess, I told them to color with crayons first. (I'm so lame, but again, they still had a blast- yay!)

When I took out the paint, I made them take their pants off, ha! Although it was Their idea to use the aprons...and they only got one color each, but again they were happy.

 and it even encouraged sharing and working together...nice!