Dutch Wonderland!!!

"Mom, is that where the princess lives?"  This is what Ashlyn asked one day this Spring as we drove past Dutch Wonderland.  Right then and there I knew it was high time to get our children to this fun amusement park that is just a few miles away from our home!

 

Mike is out of town all week and so I was trying to think of some fun things to do with the kids while he's away from home.  I texted Lena earlier in the week and asked if she would like to join us for the day with her boys.  We planned to surprise the kids and go on Thursday! 

 

It was a gorgeous day and the doors opened at 10 AM!  We were there at opening time and spent the entire day riding rides and going on roller coasters and screaming with glee and excitement!  And when I say the entire day … I mean it!  I decided that we would stay as long as Austin could go.  He ended up going strong the entire park hours!!!  We were some of the last ones to wrap it up and leave the amusement park!!!  10 straight hours of a lot of fun, a little bit of drama, belly kind of laughter and even a few sad tears it is sure to wear some of us out!!! 

 

We took our time at each ride.  If the lines weren't too long, the kids would often get off a ride and get right back in line to ride it again.  There is a boat ride that goes on some smaller roller coaster tracks and splashes you a little bit.  This was a favorite for everyone!  I think some of us rode that at least four times! 

 

I tried to keep my camera out to capture the moments but the water rides, no thank you.  Too risky for the camera!  But every picture that I took with my camera is way better than any of my phone photos!

 

Here is one of the first rides the kids took.

 

Sometimes Lena and I would ride along and sometimes we just watched!!!

Adrian had this thing about raising his arms!!!  :)

 This ride seemed to be a belly tickler.

Around noon, we went over to the water park side.  The kids got soaked but it was so packed with other children, we didn't stay here real long.  It was time for lunch anyway.  We went out to the Yukon to grab some sandwiches and fruit and changed into dry clothes.  We were then ready for another dose of fun rides!

 We watched one of the shows and here's proof that a princess does really live here, right?!  :)))

 I surprised Matthew and had asked Benson to go along for the day!  I knew he would have way more fun riding with a friend his age than hanging out in the little kid rides all day long!!!  They had a total blast!!!  Every now and then we would meet up and I'd give them some water and food money!  They loved the roller coasters and bumper cars!!!

And when I went to take a picture they turned their heads.  Boys …

 When we went back to the water park side, a lot of people had left.  They laughed and laughed and got soaked all over again!  Austin and I went down the water tunnels together and he loved, loved it!!!  We must have climbed them 50 plus steps up to this ride, at least four times!!!  We yelled, "lalalala" the whole way down the water slide!!!

 

 I get annoyed at the "live photo" pictures my phone takes because it downloads onto the computer as a video.  Therefore the arrows.

But the merry-go-round was fun.

 Hunter and Ashlyn have so much fun together. 

And look at these cute knights in shining armor!!!

They have a kids roller coaster that Adrian and Austin got to do too!!!  They loved it!!!  This was a ride we did numerous times.

 Around supper time, the kids ate ice cream cones!!!  It was so warm and so the cold treat tasted extra yummy!

 Ashlyn begged me to go on the roller coaster with her!  Lena went on it with her first for a couple of rides and then I went along.  I'm not the biggest coaster fan but it was fun!!!  We ended up going two rides in a row!!!

 Brother and sister!!!

We were still warm and sweaty at 7 PM and the kids had a royal blast splashing and going down the water tunnels.  Ashlyn got Hunter convinced to ride down in the black tunnel with her!!!  They screamed the whole way down because in the black tunnel it's dark and you can't see where you are going.  But they loved it!  It made them really wet and they giggled the whole way down the ride!!! 

We finished our day at the park in the gift shop.  Ashlyn picked out a necklace for keeps and Austin got candy.  Matthew and Benson both bought a guys necklace.

By 8:30, it was closing time and we were tired!  Austin went all day long without a nap!  We were not on the road long before he was sleeping!!!  We dropped Benson off at his home and when we finally pulled into the garage, I was beat tired!!!  The sun, the rides, all the walking, the screaming on the roller coasters and the few disciplined times had me so ready for a hot shower and my bed!!!  The kids did better after lunch.  It seemed the first part was more whining but after some attitude adjustments and food in their stomachs, it went better!!!  Much better!!!

We really had a blast!!!  Going with Lena and her two oldest added so much more fun to our day!!!

Thank you Dutch Wonderland for making this a fun, safe place for children to laugh and giggle and scream with glee!!!

Now, we just have to remember all the fun details so we can tell it to Mike when he comes back home!!!!

Summer time is so much fun!!!  Now I can cross this one off my summer bucket list!!!

Summer tidbits.

 Summer time for us involves swimming!!!  I'm not sure why it seems like we've not been at the pool a whole lot this summer but when we do go, it's warm and sunny and fun!!!

These two love to swim!  Ashlyn has mastered swimming without a puddle jumper!  Austin doesn't mind wearing a puddle jumper and loves the water!!!

I'm no book worm by any means but the other week when we were at the Lapp Vacation, Mom Lapp had one of these books along.  I sat down to read a bit and got all into it!!!  I love, love books like these because there are true facts mixed in with some every day real life happenings that may have happened!!!  If anyone knows of any other books like these, please let me know!!!  I couldn't put them down and enjoyed them very, very much!!!

It was a year that Dad Lapp passed on into heaven and the whole King Clan met at Mom Lapps for a reunion last week.  These two have the best of times together!!!  And that sky was amazing!!!

We went out yesterday as with Mom and my sisters to celebrate Mom's birthday!!!  Mom is a busy lady and because she was at the cabin all last week serving their employees with Dad, I decided to send my her birthday card.  (Smile)  We got a date to suit everyone and we went to Terrain Garden Cafe to eat again.  We love the food there!!!  I had a big heap of healthy greens and a thick slab of salmon grilled on top!!!  So good!!!

Here's something I looked up on Pinterest but still created my own recipe.

Mango Salsa:
Cut up fresh mango's.  Shred a cucumber. Dice an avocado.  Snip in some fresh basil.  Squeeze a fresh lime on top.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Stir and eat it alone or as a side dish or even as a topper for chicken, fish and salad!!!  It's so refreshing!!!

Ashlyn is in the final sessions of her summer gymnastics!!!  She has enjoyed and loved every single class!  The class always starts out with about 15 minutes of warm ups.  Then they split the class in half and each group goes with an instructor.  This week Ashlyn was put in the upper class.  It was exciting to see her flip and bounce around with the little more advanced kids!!!

This is her and my happy place!!!  The garden is doing well with most of the vegetables but I feel it could do a whole lot better.  The soil here is hard and kinda a red, clay soil.  When we made these raised beds, Mike filled them each up with the top soil that was not used with the house project.  It's not the greatest soil for a garden and I'm finding that out.  If you would look at my garden you would probably think it looks pretty good.  But when I look at neighboring gardens, it's lacking!!!  I really hope to get better dirt in these this fall and then top each one with lush mushroom mulch!!!  Maybe then I won't have to buy four different watermelon plants because they just die.  Or maybe then the cucumber plant and zucchini will survive a lot longer!  The herbs and lettuce, tomatoes and green beans are still doing great!!!

After my day out yesterday with my Mom and sisters, it was fun to watch Ashlyn glean in the garden!  She loves to walk around in it and pick a food here and there.  Austin eats my chives!  :))) 

We are both super excited to see the first sunflower bloom!  This is a flower that I would grow a whole field full if I could because I just love them!!!  I plant packs every spring but so many of them don't grow!!!???  The few that shot up, I enjoy!!!

 

Ashlyn has a small raised bed for herself.  This year we planted zinnias in it.  It dries out really quick and so to always remember to water it is a challenge.  But the flowers are finally in bloom!!!

Mike is out of town this week and she wanted to pick some flowers for him.  She watered them in the sprinkler!  With her kitties in the back ground and the sun going down, its the perfect little world for her out there!

 

And this was us today!!!  Enjoying those pool days while the summer is still here!!!

Water ducks!!!  Shakia and Ashlyn!

It's the middle of the week and Mike will be back home by the weekend!  We miss him like crazy when he's not here with us but we've been kept busy!  It's a good chance to do some "extras" with the kids while he's not home.  It makes the time go by faster!!!

It's time to go move the sprinkler!!!  The crunchy grass would love to be watered from heaven but today, it's the sprinklers job!!!

Have a great night!