Big Brother leads the Family

Four years ago when we moved to the Albany area from the Pacific NW we stayed in a hotel for a month right near this sweet little amusement park that is really meant for small children. Max loved it and it gave us a little fun adventure once per week when coming back from yet another dinner in a restaurant. The nights have been beautiful lately and we thought it would be fun to take Ellie and Sam. Actually Max hatched the plan and we went along with it. Last night was a picture perfect evening and everyone had a wonderful time.

The best part was watching Max nurture and show Sam and Ellie the ropes. Sam got off to a rough start and sat out the first ride, but once he saw what he was missing, he went nuts! He was ringing the bell and honking the horn on the bus as it drove around in a big circle and laughing the whole time. Ellie went with Max on a kiddie size ferris wheel and LOVED it! Max told us his favorite part was putting his arm around her and she was so cute, he wanted to just squeeze her. He really wanted Sam to go, but when it was his turn, he ran away from it and Ellie ended up having a second go.

Sam LOVED the boats and rode them a couple of times. He went crazy ringing the bell and shouting boat, boat, boat the entire ride. Ellie was a great co-captain and took it all in. The boys loved racing around in the Red Baron planes and Steve of course loved that a white British jet was chasing. All three kids loved the Carnival stuff and thought the clown garbage can was fantastic. The Hot Air Balloon was one of the only rides that all three could do at once and of course that was the one where I couldn't get a good photo!

We finished strong with a Father/Daughter spin on the carousel and a battle of Max and Daddy on the bumper cars. Sam finished off by falling asleep in the stroller . . .