An Idle Day of Sun . . . I mean Fun

Yesterday was an exhausting day. We left here around 9:00 and drove to Idlewild , an amusement park not far from Bob's family in PA. It took us 4 hours to get there because we didn't choose the fastest route. Lots of construction! We learned frm our mistakes, though, and went home a different way, so it only took a little over 3 hours. Anyhow, we arrived at Idlewild around 1:00, and our first bed omen was the line of cars waiting to get through the front gates where you pay! We finally got through (after having been asked if we were part of the "school picnic", another bad sign), and I was alarmed to see that all the near parking lots were full. In fact, even the far parking lots were full! We drove around for awhile but finally found a parking place that ended up being good because it was near a little pedestrian bridge, so we could just walk right into the park. We ate our picnic lunch at a little pavilion near the car, then went off in search of Bob's family. It was such a hot, humid day, and they (and everyone else) were at the pool part of the park. When we walked into Soak Zone, my first thought was of basically wall-to-wall people, like the Iwo Jima Memorial for the Fourth of July fireworks. We found his parents, sister-in-law Sherry, and her 2 kids Brandon and Sara thanks to the modern miracle of cell phones. We managed to get everyone changed, a feat in and of itself, since we had to wait in long lines for dressing rooms (well, actually that was probably just on the ladies' side--i'm thinking the guys don't "do" dressing rooms, esp. if there's a long line!). Then Bob took the older boys to the big pool and water slides, and I took the little boys to the baby area. As it turned out, the Mount Pleasant School District was having their end-of-the-year school picnic, and there was also a big daycare party that day, so that helped explain why the park was so crowded. There is a baby pool and also an area with spigots, a fountain, etc. for little kids to play in. The whole area was jammed with kids and parents. I had to play all sorts of mental games to block from my mind the fact that I was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with complete strangers clad only in my swim suit. I was a little afraid of the actual baby pool itself because there were so many people there that it really didn't seem safe to have the boys there where I could easily lose sight of them or they could get knocked over. So we spent a greater majority of the time by the spigots where I (and everyone else) didn't even have the water to somewhat be immersed in. There was a lot of gaping, bunching, riding up, not to mention just general flabbiness, surrounding me, and I was really ready to be done and have my personal space back! After the pool, the older boys rode the roller coaster twice, we all rode the Merry-Go-Round, we ate a quick dinner, and the boys played in an area called "Jumpin' Jungle", which has a ball pit and some climbing ropes and stuff. Then it was after 7:00, and it was time to leave. We slowly made our way back to our car, after prolonged goodbyes, and we left around 7:45. The drive back was quicker, so we made it home at 11:00, with the boys fast asleep. It's hard to say if the whole day was "worth it". If it was just up to me, we wouldn't do this sort of thing, since it's not fun for me at all, and I don't even love amusement parks without the kids, especially on hot days. But we want to build more relationships with Bob's family, and maybe this will help, that is if they don't think we are insane for driving 7 hours to play for 6 hours. Now today we must pay the terrible price of keeping the boys up late, and Jonathan is indeed a fragile crab. Good thing I decided not to do any school today! We're building a castle from cardboard instead. We've been planning on doing this since we got the issue of "Family Fun" magazine that had the plans. Hopefully Jonathan can just make it until after lunch!