Kings Island

We got everyone a pass to Kings Island for this summer and the girls have already gone quite a few times. Monday was my first time to go, but Jeff and Conor had already been once. The girls went off on their own as soon as we got there and Jeff, Caitlyn, Conor, and I headed to kiddie land. The first ride we rode was the Scooby-doo haunted castle. Conor and I were in one Mystery Machine, and Jeff and Caitly rode in one behind us. They supply flashlight guns to shoot at the monsters throughout the ride, and it counts up how many monsters that you get on a little digital scoreboard in the machine. While we were standing in line, we asked Conor if he wanted to ride with me or Jeff and he picked me. Jeff proceeded to tell him that "Mommy is a bad shooter" and he would lose if he went with me. He was soooo wrong! Conor scored 600 with his, Jeff got 530, and I got a whopping 810. Apparently there was only one working shooter in their machine, they claim, and the one that did work didn't work half the time. Yeah, right. Likely story.

After the ride, Scooby-doo was outside and the kids went up to get their picture taken with him. Conor was a little hesitant, he inched his way to standing next to him.

Then I talked Conor into trying the bumper cars. Apparently when he and Jeff went the only ride he wanted to ride was the White Water Canyon ride over and over again. Which is what he wanted to do again, but I told him that we had to go to other rides as well because he wasn't the only one there and we wanted to do something different.

He was a blur driving around running into all the other drivers.

He had a blast.

He ran into the little girls just as much as the little boys.

After the bumper cars, Caitlyn wanted to ride what used to be called the Beastie but is now Cosmo and Wanda's Fairly Odd Roller Coaster. Conor would not be talked into it. We stood in line with them, though. We just walked across the seat instead of riding.

We then went on to meet up with the girls and have lunch. After which, it was time for the White Water Rapids ride. It was a fairly overcast day, not warm at all. Which is good while walking around the park, but is not good for getting wet.

We got soaked. Totally soaked. It was fun and we laughed a lot because of Jeff's complaining every time he got hit with water. I do think he got the worst of it.

After riding two times in a row (there weren't a lot of other people dumb, errr.. I mean, brave enough to ride it, we walked down game row. Mistake. Conor wanted to play all the games. We played a few, but didn't win. Conor saw an ice cream shop and wanted a cone, so he and I got one each. Jeff and Caitlyn were too cold. What wusses. Heh.

The ice cream piled onto those little cones were HUGE. They flowed over the sides, and I don't know how it stayed. Well, it really didn't. It melted down our hands. A sticky mess that even Conor didn't like. He ate most of it, but then was tired of it cuz his mouth was frozed and he want to throw it away. Caitlyn was riding on the swings, and Jeff took Conor's ice cream while we were waiting and began to lick it. It was a bit top-heavy and the ice cream fell off the cone as he tried to lick it. It was quite funny - the look on his face afterwards. I didn't get a picture though - I had my hands full with my own cone.

He was bummed that he couldn't play more. But at $5 a pop, no way. I'd rather just buy a stuffed animal.

Although you can't tell by the pictures, this is what the sky looked like.

Caitlyn wanted to ride the Scrambler, but no one else did so she hopped on by herself.

And loved it.

Here was a little friend that caught a ride on my shoe and I thought he was a rather interesting looking bug, so I took his picture.

After the scrambler, Caitlyn wanted to go back to kiddie land and ride the Reptar (roller coaster) but Conor would have none of that and he wanted to go up on the Eiffel Tower. So, Jeff went with Caitlyn, and Conor and I went up the tower. And, OK, I'm terrified of that thing. I mean, it has been there for a very long time and one of these days it is going to fall. I went up on it all the time as a kid, even walked up the stairs to the lower level all the time. (That part is closed off now.)

We got to the top and my legs will barely move to walk around it. I inch out to the edge and grasp the bars going around - like holding on to something will prevent me from falling with it. But, hey, it made me feel a little safer. I couldn't take any pictures though, my hands were too busy. Conor looked down on the people below us and said they look like ants. Then he wanted to find Jeff and Caitlyn somehow... lol

We stayed up there for what seemed like forever to me, but was more like 5 minutes before I talked Conor into getting back on the elevator and going down. We walked back to kiddie land and there was a water gun game that he wanted to play. The minimum amount of players needed was 2 and it only cost $3. So he and I played. And he beat me twice! He chose a Sponge bob for his daddy, and a teddy bear for mommy. :) We then went to meet up with Jeff and Caitlyn. Caitlyn and Conor had actually started to be dry from the water rides, so they decided they wanted to run through the water land.

So they did, and they got totally soaked. They ran through 3 or 4 times.

By this time, it was still gray on one side of the tower...

and the sun was shining on the other side.

We met up with the girls again and I took their picture to prove that they did actually go with us. We were all tired (Conor was grouchy without a nap) and decided to head home.

One last picture of all four of them...

And we walked the long distance to the truck.

On the way home we stopped to see Granddad. He was glad for the visit. He was sitting in a chair, so Allie and Ceara sat on his bed, and both kinda laid down. We found folding chairs in the closet so we were all able to sit and talk with him for a bit.

One of his nurses walked in (a guy) and saw Allie lying in the bed and started teasing her. Said he was about to give her a suppository because he thought she was a patient. We all laughed, and she had a confused smile on her face. "I don't know what that is.." she said. Which caused a lot more laughter.

The nurse said, "I'll let them explain it to you," and left.

We picked up some food and went home. We were all wore out. I laid on the couch and watched a movie while everyone got ready for bed. Then I took a long, hot bath to get warm and went to bed as well. It was a fun day with lots of laughter.

Today... I'm shampooing my bedroom carpet. So, I better get started on that. :)