Charlie's first amusement park(s)

I am self-proclaimed hater of 99% of amusement parks but something about having a fearless little man has changed my outlook, at least for the moment.  I've just returned from a two-day trip with Charlie, two of my best friends (Lauren & Hara), and Max (Lauren's 3 1/2 year old son).  We tackled two parks in two days and had an incredible time.

Day 1: Hershey Park
I've only been to Hershey Park twice (that I can remember).  One of them was with Lauren's family as an incentive for Lauren staying in band during 8th grade and the other one was for an SGA retreat at Towson, which Hara attended...so it seemed fitting to go back with them, but this time with two little guys in tow.  Hara even hooked us up with this great link for discounted tickets!

I was really really nervous about the whole thing, because John and I tried taking CPL on some rides at Trimpers in June and it was a TOTAL fail.  But, as we had hoped, he just needed someone closer to his height to conquer them with.  Here's a pic from the first ride we tried--I was holding my breath on the side lines :)

After getting through the first ride, we took on the rest of the park.

The Log ride with Hara, Max, and Lauren

Meeting Mr. Hershey with Hara

Then we headed over to the water area and were blown away.  Definitely a lot of options for bigger kids and two good areas for the little ones.  We, well really Hara, played for a while with Max & Charlie but then they had to close for a bit because of some thunder and the boys weren't happy about it...

We lasted til about 4:00, when CPL hit a wall and passed out.  Although, I must say it was kinda nice since these moments don't happy too often anymore.

After that we headed back to Hara's mom's house, which was just 20ish minutes away.  She was nice enough to let us and our wild boys stay over and we had a low-key evening of Bubble Guppies, pizza, royal baby discussion, a ton of laughs, and maybe a few adult beverages.

Day 2: Dutch Wonderland
We'd heard from a lot of folks that Dutch Wonderland was a great option for toddlers and they were absolutely right!  Why, you ask?

• Barely any lines
• Majority of the rides are made for 36inchers and under
• The staff is super accomodating of toddlers, strollers, and all the junk that comes with them 
• The park is big enough to spend the day but not so spread out that you are exhausted just walking it
• The little band that walked around the park ended their last set with one of my fav jams "Love on Top" by Beyonce
• The water part is amazeballs

By now we knew that the rides would be a total hit, here are a few pics to prove it!

The Tilt-a-Whirl was a tad bit terrifying...

Amongst the little rides they had some super random things...including a fake cow with udders...CPL of course loved it!

We ended the day at the Dutch Wonderland Water Park, where we could have spent all day, heck all week :)

All in all it was an absolutely fabulous little trip. For me, this is really just the kick-off to Mommy & Charlie week (Miss Jackie is on vaca this week).  Three things we learned, that are worth sharing:

• The meal plan was totally worth it, for that refillable cup :) 
• The big stroller was really handy and not the pain in the but I thought it'd be.
• 3 adults and 2 kids was a perfect ratio

Here's a classic shot from today to finish up the post.