Mostly Kid Stuff: June 2012

The kids were invited to a birthday party at Pirate's Cove, a little pirate themed kid size (ages 2-9) amusement park. They had a fantastic time and are already asking to go back. We might have to see about having a playdate with some friends there soon. I heard about Pirate's Cove last summer, but we never made it there, so this was out first time. There was a giant slide, climbing area, bounce house, train, hand crank train cars, a pirate ship, paddle boats, and a carousel. Lots for little ones to do. Dorothy was a little too small for some of the things, but she held her own.

First up were the paddle boats. Malcolm was off and running (and impossible to photograph), but Dorothy didn't quite get how to turn the cranks to make them go, let alone how to steer. She was ready to be done pretty quickly, but seemed to like just floating around for a little while.

She's trying to turn the cranks, but really just went with the current.


She floated into the corner and got stuck.

Next were the hand crank train cars, which were Malcolm's favorite. He loved them last Fall when we went to Santa's Village (another kid amusement park) and he liked them again today. I wasn't sure if Dorothy would be able to do them based on her paddle boat experience, but she did better than expected. Luckily, the staff members have poles to give the kids a push if they need it and she was in front of either her brother or another bigger kid who basically pushed her car around the track. On her last ride, there was an older girl who just wasn't getting the concept of pedaling with her hands and Dorothy ended up pushing her part of the way around the track.

Ready to go!

Go Dorothy, go!

From the hand crank cars, we hopped over to the carousel. When they first climbed on, they both wanted to be on horses, then Malcolm asked, "Is this horse going to move?" When we said yes, he decided to switch to a bench and of course Dorothy wanted to switch too. On the very last ride of the day, he got brave and rode a horse and was very pleased with himself. He thought it was fun too. I think the carousel was Dorothy's favorite ride. The kids split up for a little while and did different things and Dorothy rode the carousel (on a bench) and was very proud of herself for riding all by herself.

On the way out, we gave them a choice of the carousel or hand crank cars as the very last thing to do before we left. It took us a minute to figure it out, but Dorothy was saying, "Mary Poppins," because she wanted to ride the carousel. We had just watched Mary Poppins for the first time two nights ago, and she must have made the connection between this carousel and the one in the movie.

Before realizing that the horse was going to move.

After switching to the bench.

Later in the day, riding a horse.

Riding the bench, alone.

It was getting close to lunch time for the party, so we headed back toward the pavilion, but there was still time for one more ride. There was a train nearby, so Kevin and the kids rode that. Malcolm learned pretty quickly that if you rode in the engine, there was a bell you could ring.

Riding with Daddy.

Dorothy had been asking for a few days to sing Happy Birthday and have cake (she knows how these things work) and was pretty disappointed to find out that we expected her to eat lunch before there would be any cake.

Waiting for lunch with the Birthday Boy.

The birthday boy's mom had put the pirate hat on Dorothy, then Malcolm very carefully pulled her pigtails through so they were resting on top of the hat.

Someone needs to bring me some cake.

Today we learned that Dorothy is not a fan on costumed characters. A guy in a pirate suit, complete with foam head, came over to the birthday area and Dorothy promptly climbed up into Kevin's lap and glued herself to his chest while never taking her eyes off of the pirate. After he was gone, she would still nervously ask about him and where he went. She told us she was scared of, "That person."