Easter Saturday at Six Flags

Six Flags was having an easter egg hunt for the first 100 kids that came to the park at 9:30. We tried to make it, but barely missed it. But we still got these awesome easter hats, and Jack got 2 eggs because after the line died down, he went back to the lady (who loved him of course) and asked so very politely for another egg. So he was happy. (hence the super cheesy grin)

But this right here was his true love. He loved this "duck bug" so much. 

While we waited in line for the park to officially open, Jack said hi to his favorite mascots. He insists on high fives from all of them. 

And then he would run back to the car. The owner of the peep mobile thought it was adorable how Jack totally laid claim on his car. He did not want to let go of it. 

Because we are gold pass members, we get let into the park 15 min before everyone else. So Jack and I went to the big ball house while Tony went to the section with the big rides. He was able to ride the superman ride (Ride of Steel) 8 times without having to climb off. We then switched places and I was able to ride it 5 times in a row without getting off. 4 of those times were in the very back seat. So another very successful day at six flags.

This one is the jinx. Jack and I sat and watched Tony go on the ride while Jack had a snack, and then Tony and Jack watched me. It is one of those 0 to 60 in 3 seconds rides. 

Today's choice on the Carousel was this seat. He picked it 3 times in a row. Why ride a horse or a tiger when you can sit on a seat?

When You're the Best of Friends

All week I was singing the song from Fox and the Hound, "When you're the best of friends." Jack and I got the wonderful opportunity of driving to West Virginia to visit our good friends. Channa and I were pregnant at the same time and often went on walks and went out to lunch and talked about how our boys were going to be best friends. 

Well I am here to tell you that they truly are. They moved to West Virginia in January, but Jack and Walden pretended like no time had passed. They rode their trikes and giggled. They shared their toys. That's right, you heard me right, SHARED. And wherever one of them went, the other followed. They couldn't be bothered to eat or sleep, they just wanted to play with each other. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

We went down to the creek for a nice walk and saw that there were a million geese who were not shy at all. They knew that people meant food so they came right up to us. The boys loved it. 

Jack did a good job of splashing around in the shallow water and getting his pants and socks wet. 

And then we gave the kids some graham crackers to feed the geese. They laughed so hard, they thought it was so cool to be giving them food. 

2 of the geese came up on land to snack on the grass and before I knew it, Jack was racing toward them. Lucky for Jack, they didn't charge him, the hissed and slowly started walking away. Every time I caught him racing toward the geese I would run after him and make him walk away. Then he would wave and say "bye geese."

We also stopped at a playground. This rock wall was pretty big and he climbed to the top all by himself. He's getting so big. 

We had a wonderful time visiting and hope to go back soon. 

Swing Dismount

Jack has learned how to dismount from the swing all by himself.

Another Fun Filled Saturday

 Saturday morning we were invited to a Easter brunch. A friend of ours filled their yard with Easter eggs, and then asked everyone to bring a brunch item. The adults visited and the kids got to collect candy. Everyone is happy :)

We explained to Jack that all the plastic eggs that he could see contained candy. And he could pick up as many as he wanted and put them in his basket. He was very good at it....

until he noticed a vehicle at the bottom of the hill. He was mid- picking up an egg when he spotted it. He instantly dropped the egg and his elmo basket and ran straight for the car. He then proceeded to "stake it out" for the next thirty min or so. 

Here is a picture of a good part of the crowd. There were more of us sitting on the deck (where I am taking the picture). We love our new ward family! We have felt so welcomed.

And their backyard had a decent hill, so I took Jack on rides down the hill. He loved it. 

After brunch, we stopped by the house briefly to change Jack and grab snacks. (We also changed into shorts and tshirts. It was pretty hot). We also covered ourselves in sunscreen to prepare for the day, and then headed straight to six flags. 

It was a great day to be at six flags. There was no traffic getting there, and then the park was nearly empty. Jack remembered it from last week, and knew exactly which rides he wanted to do again. Tony and I occasionally to turns running off to the big kid rides. It was easy to do since there weren't any lines. 

Below, you can see the "huge" line I had to stand in. Oh, wait...there isn't anyone in line. This is where I decided I wanted to ride on the very front of this awesome roller coaster. I had already ridden it 4 times at this point without getting off the ride. But there was someone sitting in the front, so I had to get off and get in line and watch them run the ride for the 2 people already sitting in the front. Needless to say, we had an awesome day. Jack found a friend at the huge playground and followed her around like a puppy for a long time. 

We also scared Jack by accident. They have a water ride where you climb in the boat and then they take you up a large hill, and then you drop down into the water and get splashed. It also sends up a huge wave and soaked anyone that is standing on the bridge. Jack and I stood on the bridge to watch Tony go down the hill (but we were on the far side of the bridge so we wouldn't get soaked). I pointed out Tony to Jack and then we watched him come down the hill. When the boat hit the water, all you could see was a big splash. By the time you could see again, the boat had already gone under the bridge. Jack thought his Dad had died. He completely lost control, yelling "DAD" and crying. I had to run to the end of the ride so Jack could see that Tony was alright. Sorry Jack... didn't mean to scare you like that. 

After a full day packed with fun, Jack instantly fell asleep in the car. Doesn't he just look plain worn out? We have loved being able to go to Six Flags as a family. It is going to be a great summer!

Almost Cherry Blossoms

This was an awesome nice smelling tree that was in bloom. We are not sure what kind of blossom it is, but it's pretty :)

And this Magnolia tree is just starting to open up. 

But along the Tidal Basin, most of the trees still look like this: 

Mom and Dad were sad.

We found a couple along the river that were in pretty good bloom though. 

This was the best one of all.

Mt Vernon!

Mom and Dad Roring are out visiting us for Mom's spring break. We were able to go to the Zoo on Thursday (which I didn't get pictures of sadly). And then able to go to Mt. Vernon on Friday. At the very beginning of the "tour" you watch a movie to give you a little background on Washington. During the introduction, Jack fell forward off his chair, and hit the chair in front of his with the bridge of his nose. So Jack and I missed the movie because he was in a lot of pain. It is a decent sized gash. Poor little guy.

Anyway, we really enjoyed Mt. Vernon. It is beautiful and has a lot of history. Behind us here is Washington's flag. It has 13 stars.

And here is his tomb. We learned that in his will, it stated that they needed to build a new nicer, bigger tomb for him and his family. So this is actually the second place he was buried. 

We got to ride in a horse drawn carriage. Jack was a little bit hesitant at first, but then he loved it. Right by where the carriage was, they had a cool invention by Washington. They would put a bunch of the wheat stalks in this big building and then have the horses trot in a circle on the stalks. This would separate the wheat and it would fall down through slats on the floor. Washington was a great agricultural inventor. 

This was their mansion. It was kind of sad to hear how little time Washington actually got to spend at his home. He did a lot and sacrificed much for the good of his country. 

Six Flags!

We were able to get a great deal on Season tickets to Six Flags that started during last years fright fest. (The season passes were the same price as a one day pass). They are good through this whole year as well, and include free parking. Another cool feature about our "gold passes" is that they let you bring a friend for free 5 different times. So today we brought Mom and Dad Roring with us. It was a light jacket, yet sunny kind of day.

Jack really enjoyed himself. Most of the rides were themed around his favorite vehicles: cars, busses, helicopters, trains, etc... He was truly in heaven. 

This is the car ride. You get to drive the car around the track. There is a pedal, so you pick the speed, and steer around the path. I think this was his favorite of all the rides. He kept running back to it at full speed, no matter where we were in the park, yelling "cars!"

This was the train ride. It takes you around a bunch of the rides, and we were the only ones riding it. (It was definitely not a crowded day)

And this was the smaller train ride. Very short and very slow. There was one part where I was pretty sure I could crawl faster then the train was going. 

 

And this was the hot air balloon ride that takes you up pretty high. As you can see, Jack liked looking down on all the rides (and especially the train) down below. 

And this is the park that Jack loved. If you notice the yellow slide on the far left: that was the slide he decided on. He's a brave little guy for sure. 

And this is the Looney Tunes Prop Warehouse. There are these little foam balls everywhere, and places that suck them up to to the top floor, so the bigger kids can shoot them back down. 

Jack quickly discovered that once it stopped sucking, he just had to push the button on the top to start it up again. 

He climbed up to the top floor and came down this slide. It was super super long. 

And his last ride of the day was on the "copters." This ride is cool because the kid decides when to make it go up and down. There is a lever that controls the height. There is also a fake steering wheel. 

And although we really only took pictures of the kiddie rides, do not fret. Us adults did go on the big kid rides. We took turns playing with Jack. Mom and Dad's favorite was the "ride of steel" that is a superman themed ride. It goes extremely high, and is a really smooth ride. My favorite stands as the batwing, that makes you fly like a bat. But we tried a new ride today called the Jinx that takes you from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. It was particularly awesome :)