Furniture and a farm

This past weekend the kids had a 5 day weekend. We decided we would take advantage of the break and make a quick trip to California for a little shopping and fun.

Our first stop

I had packed light in order to fit as much from IKEA as I could. I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but I always find something there I need to bring home. Everything fit just fine except I decided to buy a bookcase that posed a little problem.

Corey shuffled and reshuffled stuff. While cussing politely asking me not to take pictures because he didn't find the situation as amusing as I did. I was just about to give and return the thing when he thought of unboxing it and fitting it in other ways.

It worked, good thing Hailey and Emery don't require a lot of leg room.

Once it was all in, Corey admitted that it was funny, but only after the situation.

Next stop...

The kids were beyond excited. They have never been to an amusement park so they couldn't have been more thrilled.

Once we got into the park, having never been there or knowing much about the place, we just turned and went to the first roller coaster in our path. The Ghost Rider. This is where Corey and I made a serious parental mistake, which we will probably win some award for, and let Brendan get on with Corey and the older boys.

This roller coaster has a 108 foot drop and reaches speeds of 60 mph. Oops, we really had no idea. You could not see most of the roller coaster from inside the park or we might have had some clue. So for a little boy who has no experience with such things, I think it scared him to death. He was such a good sport though. Corey said he never screamed or complained, just went kind of limp. I am sure he was in shock. Let's just say he was not as eager to jump on stuff for the rest of the day. 

He looks scared already and he had no idea what he was even in for, but look at Carter's face too. Serioulsy, the kid looked like that all day. He was in his heaven. So we lost parenting points with Brendan, but gained a lot from Carter. It all balances out.

The Log Ride

Always a favorite. We rode it several times- even convinced Brendan to go a couple of times too.

This was Carter's favorite. I think he went on this 4 or 5 times.

Being a good spectator- he doesn't look too traumatized, does he?

Emery was such a trooper even with being stuck in a stroller or carseat for hours on end. She just puts up with it.

You have to look at Hailey's face in these next pictures. You would think that we made her get on and she was terrified, but really she begged to go on anything that she could. If she had been a couple inches taller we would have been in trouble. She loved it all. Carter is going to have a great roller coaster buddy in a couple of years. Thank goodness, Corey and I are not roller coaster people. Corey was such a good sport and took them on most everything though.

 I don't think Kayden is a real fan of roller coasters either. But man, he went on most everything. If he didn't like it he just closed his eyes or ducked down. Which he did a lot, but he was game for all of it.

I think Emery's face sums it all up. We were completely exhausted, a little dirty and hot, but totally happy at the end of the day. Such fun, just next time we will try a little harder not to traumatize anyone.