Paradise Park in Motown

Traveling with a 2 and 4 year old is always associated with a little anxiety for me. Not because I necessarily want it to just be a super pleasant experience for them. I am all about pushing them a little outside of their comfort zone, but more because I want to create an environment that allows me to be successful as their mommy and not communicate anything that might cause lasting scars. I was a sensitive kid and it penetrated deep when I felt like an announce, so I do my best to avoid communicating that to my precious gifts. But, if I am honest sometimes they just annoy the badonkadonk out of me. It's my issue I am easily irritated and I am so thankful that God is using their lives to refine me in this area. I knew 12 hours in the car, 4 hours watching a football game and a couple of sit down meals were sure to result in a few meltdowns, so I wanted to find one activity they would thoroughly enjoy. There is a fun activity park just a couple miles from Chelsea and Jordon's, so I decide we would go.  A kid crazed atmosphere is not necessarily my cup of tea, but denying self is a huge part of this parenting gig. So, after a fun morning hanging with the fam we headed to Paradise Park.

I am not a huge fan of trampolines because they are not the safest apparatus, especially when you put a few rough and tumble boys in the mix. These tramps were great, they each had their own area and were completely enclosed by a safety net. Yes, I sound like a super over protective mother, but with good cause. In 5th grade I got spiked on my head off a tramp and walked around with lopsided shoulders for over a week.

Exhaustion set in, so we moved on to some car racing. 

These little cars were lacking in thrill, so we decided to move on to the Speedway.

IT was a blast. We are slightly competitive in the Ruiz family. Turning everything into a competition makes it much more enjoyable to do the not so fun parts of life. However, if you don't handle losing well it can make for many teaching opportunities. Caleb has shed many a tear over not getting to the top of the stairs the fastest, not being first to clean up his toys or losing our nightly race of who can scrub their teeth the fastest. Thankfully, the Speedway was just fun competition and Caleb and Daddy totally smoked us, so Caleb was all smiles.

 

SISSY

2 years OLD 

{Little Sis}

Always smiLing

amaZing PerFormer

lover of doGGies 

caleb's BIGGEST fan

fearLess and deTeRmined

LoVeS To LauGH

LOYAL defender

pillAgER

cuDDle buG 

LoveR of WubbY
DAiRy intoLeRant

{beautiful} BOTH inside and out 

more fruit PLEASE 

caRe giVer To babies
LoVaBLe spitfire 

MAKER of messes

Joy and a Blessing...

my amazing GIFT from the {LORD}

WT Disney otherwise known as Idlewild

We found a really fun amusement park, just an hour and half from the house. The crowd it gathered was very diverse, but I think we were exposed to the much referenced hillbilly folk. I felt a little judgemental, but I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one place in bad need of dental hygiene. However, it was really fun and perfect for the little ones. There was also a fun water park included in the price of admission and Caleb and Daddy had fun going down the tube ride together.

All the rides are little kid friendly and Caleb broke out of his cautious self and road a big roller coaster, log ride and a number of rides that whip around and around.

There was even a number of toddler friendly rides that Sissy loved.

Caleb kindly escorted his sweet sister all around the park.

It was very fun, but extremely hot and I don't think I have felt this exhausted in a very long time. We took a walk down memory line through Storybook Forest. All the pictures are of Sissy, because Caleb was so naughty he got grounded to the stroller for the first 2 hours of day two at the Park.

Sissy keeping him company

I don't remember this nursery rhyme, but I thought this big chair was a great picture opp.

This "Chu Chu" represented my favorite childhood story, 

The Little Engine That Could. 

The famous Sword and the Stone. 

I guess Sister was not The Chosen One.

We took a little break on our tour, so Makaylee could fill her shoes with rocks and dirt.

Caleb's punishment may seem harsh, but the original consequence was grounding the whole day. It was too heart breaking to watch him miss out on the whole day, so we gave him many chances to earn back the privilege of the park. I think I was as happy as him with his success.

Fun Father's Day

We had a really fun Father's day. It was especially nice because we have been consumed with our yard for the last several weekends, so having family time was much needed. It started out with making Daddy breakfast. A rare event in this household.

Then we went to the pool. It has been interesting watching the kids go from clinging with the death grip the first couple visits to the pool to becoming two little fish.

Caleb has mastered the cannonball

After, the super fun time at the pool we headed home for nap time for some reenergizing.

When they woke up we made Daddy his favorite
sugar cookies.

The shape of stars to remind him he is our star.

Then we delivered the cookies to him outside since 

he was back at work on the yard. 

After the cookies and dad's presents,

we decided to go visit the neighbors and spent the rest of the evening hanging out and and having a great time with them.

Loves Dinos

The first dino dig was such a success I decided to try it again. However, the first one was a birthday present that cost $21. Little pricey, so I found this fun dinosaur puzzle at Michael's for $2.

I had Moon Sand, which usually drives me batty, but was prefect for diggin for Dinos. I just put everything in a 9x13 cake tin. And we used the pointy end of the paint brush to dig and then the other end to dust.

The kids had a great time.  I do recommend this being an outdoor event, Moon Sand is very messy and hard to clean up.

They both got very excited about their discoveries.

And with much bribing I was able to get them to pose for a few pictures.

The finished Tyrannosaurus. Not the most sturdy but pretty cool for 2 bucks.