Indiana Beach

Keith suggested that we visit Indiana Beach over the Memorial Day weekend. His mom pointed out that most of the campers/weekend visitors are heading home on Monday, so it’s a great day to hit the amusement park without a lot of crowds. It turns out she was right!

We spent a great day at Indiana Beach. It was Max’s first trip, and Alex’s first time to go on any rides. (The last time we were there, Alex was a little pipsqueak. Here’s Alex at 6 months old, when Grandma & Grandpa S came along…)

This time, Grandma & Papa P came with us. We found discount tickets online, and the boys were both free since they’re 2 and under. (One of the benefits of having kiddos close in age!)

We arrived, had a picnic lunch, and then headed into the park to enjoy our afternoon.

Max did a lot of watching from his stroller, but he also got lots of snuggles with the grandparents and mommy and daddy.

Max also got the special treat of riding the carousel with Papa. It was hard to get a good picture with a slow camera and a spinning ride!

This was Alex’s first ride, and he took it very seriously. He had no smiles, although he enjoyed it. He had to take it all in first; the smiles came as the day went on.

See? A smile!

Another smile…

We ran into our friend Jessica, who was in town visiting parents and friends for the week. Alex & Jessica’s daughter Hayden (who are only 3 days apart in age) shared a car ride together.

Grandma & Papa watched the boys (and treated Alex to his first Dippin’ Dots) while Keith & I went on a few grown-up rides. Oh, how I miss trips to Six Flags and Cedar Point! Someday, I’ll no longer be pregnant or nursing and we can take a few days away from the kiddos…

We took Alex on an indoor shooting gallery ride. It’s a pirate-themed ride. As we waited in line, I told Alex that it would be dark and noisy, but it’s lots of fun. I went first, and Keith followed in the next car with Alex. I’d forgotten how just how dark it is and how things jump out at you. I was so worried that Alex would be scared, but he came out with a smile on his face and wanted to do it again…so we all crammed into one car and did it together!

Daddy took Alex on the bumper cars.

We hid from the raindrops for a bit, and we all enjoyed elephant ears (even Max had a few tastes…) while we waited.

Daddy & Alex splashed together in the puddles! And then, we decided that the rain wasn’t going to let up and we might as well head for home. Honestly, though, we’d done plenty…and Alex had a lot of fun, which was our main point of the day!