Wonderland!

Wow, I'm seriously getting behind on blog posts here. We've had lots of visitors and between trying to get ready for school and other stuff going on -- it's been crazy and busy, but great! I'll keep plugging along to stay on top of things.

Last week we went to Wonderland for FHE. Wonderland is Amarillo's amusement park. Not exactly Disneyland, but it was actually quite fun! We bought discount tickets through the school back in May and had until the end of August to use them. We never made it there last summer, so this was our first visit.

The kids were SO excited, although Hannah was nervous about roller coasters and such. As it turned out, she pretty much refused to ride anything that looked remotely fast, spun a lot or had a big drop anywhere. Hayley, on the other hand, wanted to ride everything she was tall enough for. She got a little scared on a couple of rides but decided when it was over that she liked it.

Here are the girls at the entrance as we waited to get in.

Waiting to get in was pretty much the only line we had to stand in all night. The park is only open from 7-10 in the evening, so we got there right when they opened (as did a lot of other people). But once we were in the park, the lines weren't bad at all. We were pretty much able to just walk right up to the rides and get on.

The very first ride we went to was the "Rainbow" -- this big platform-type ride that takes you way up and swings you around, sort of like a pendulum. Hannah wouldn't get on, but smiled for a picture afterward.

Hannah was excited about the Wonderwheel -- a speed much more to her liking!

The view from both sides of the Wonderwheel:

I was surprised when Hannah wanted to try this log ride -- it basically just took up on a hill and then dropped you down for a splash.

As we got to the top, she started to get more nervous and as we were falling, she kept saying "Oh, my tummy!" Funny girl!

McKay & Brian rode in the log behind us:

Bumper cars were awesome!

Hayley was my bumper car co-driver:

McKay & Brian are in the middle car of this medium-sized roller coaster. (Hannah wouldn't go and the other two weren't tall enough.) Brian and McKay also went on the big Texas Tornado roller coaster which has a couple of loops.

Hannah did find a ride that she loved (and went on three times) -- the Fiesta Swing.

Hayley wasn't tall enough so she had to settle for watching this one.

Here's Hannah standing with some of the park behind her. See those big tubes? You climb a whole bunch of stairs and then sit on a little plastic raft to ride the water down.

And this is what happens to the back of your pants when you ride down the tubes.

We stopped at the "little kid" area before the park closed and had to do the Carousel.

And the Frog Hopper (yes, McKay is probably about too big for this ride!)

Courtney was very brave too and even went on the Haunted House ride all by herself. (Brian and McKay were off on the big coaster and I couldn't go with her because of Hayley.) The old man working the ride was quite surprised I let her go by herself (he told me "I wouldn't let one of mine that small go alone"), but she told me "I won't be scared, Mom. I know it's not real!" She did great. The only ride she didn't want to go on was the chair lift that goes across the park. She remembered not liking those chair lifts at the Alpine Slide in Colorado.

Thanks, Wonderland, for a great night together!