One Week of Two

The week before spring break one of my sisters was hospitalized due to her abdominal pain and I took care of her little girl for the week. Caleigh was still in school everyday so we would spend the early morning together, then Caleigh would go to school for the rest of the morning and we would go and pick her up at noon and the three of us would spend the rest of the day together. We had fun playing inside, playing outside, going out for lunch, playing at playgrounds, going to their other cousin's first birthday party, visiting the grand opening of Toys R Us, and going to a Helicopter Easter Egg Drop. The first couple of days were rough as we learned to manage everyones schedules (school, naps, baths, bedtimes etc.). But by day three we had a routine down that worked for everyone and I had two happy kids. They are both only children so I think they really enjoyed having a playmate all the time. Here are some pics from the week.

She loved when we got to get dressed and go pick Caleigh up from school. As I would do her hair she would look in the mirror and say "cute, cute" until I was finished with it and she would then say "Pretty". That Thursday, Caleigh had an egg hunt at school and I had to miss it due to the little one's nap. Luckily, Chad got to go and took some pictures for me.

On that Friday, Chad was off of work so after Caleigh got out of school we decided to take the girls to the grand opening of the new Toys R Us/Babies R Us near us. On that day, three of the characters from the show "Yo Gabba Gabba" were there. Both girls were excited to see them. The little one LOVED them from far away and she would call out to them and wave but when we got her close to them she would scream and cry. Even the characters were confused! LOL. She would call them over to her and when they would come, she would scream and start to cry. It was quite funny.

Geoffrey the Toys R Us giraffe was also there. After I took this picture I realized that Geoffrey probably should have been frightened of Caleigh. I mean after all, she is wearing a giraffe print skirt! LOL!

The girls got balloons and then a clown made them each a balloon animal. She got a Minnie Mouse and Caleigh got an Ariel. We let Caleigh get her face painted but thought she would smear hers off too quickly and probably wouldn't sit still long enough to get one anyways so she didn't get face paint.

Both girls did get their own cotton candy though.

We had to take them back the next day as well because Caleigh really wanted to see Barbie and she was only going to be there on Saturday.

We also went to the Helicopter Easter Egg Drop and the other cousin joined us. It was very, very hot again this year but not as hot as it was last year.

Pictures with the Easter Bunny went about as well as the ones at TRU/BRU.

The girls got to grab eggs and see a real helicopter drop thousands of eggs from the sky! They loved it. The older two girls even went down a three stories tall inflatable slide.

We had a great week and it was bittersweet to send her home but I did have fun getting all the extra snuggles and love from two little girls for a while!

Six Flags

Our friend Roger, the elf, did a favor for the Easter Bunny this year and brought Chad, Caleigh, and I a season pass to Six Flags Over Georgia the weekend before Spring Break. Caleigh has never been to Six Flags and we decided that this would be there year we would take her for the first time. Not only is she small enough to still ride every single ride in Bugs Bunny World, she is also big enough to ride four of the roller coasters and all of the family friendly rides as well as a few of the bigger theme rides. When Roger showed up early that Sunday morning with the passes in Caleigh's Easter egg hunting bucket, she was thrilled. She was just as excited about going as she was to see Roger again! It was priceless!

Roger had written her a sweet letter about how Santa had been watching her and was pleased with how well she was working on things at school and with her attitude. He explained that the Easter Bunny was busy getting things ready for next Sunday and he had asked Roger to bring the passes early so she could use them over her break. Roger was so proud that Caleigh had learned the true meaning of Easter and she could tell everyone the reason they should celebrate. He didn't stick around long though. When we came home from Six Flags, he was gone and had left us a mess of pillows and blankets all over the living room. We quickly dressed and left for the park early in hopes of avoiding traffic and long lines at the rides. Chad and I haven't been to the park in six years ourselves so we were excited to go as well. There was no traffic on the way there. When we got off the exit, I actually started to question whether the park was really open or not. We were the only car pulling off the exit. The park was open and we continued into the parking lot where we parked in the very first row past the handicap parking. I highly doubt this will ever happen again.

We boarded the tram and headed to the front gate. Caleigh was excited just to ride the tram. We did have to stand in a line to have our season passes processed but, fortunately, it was not very long. Once in the gates we made a quick stop for pics with a few of the Bugs Bunny characters and we went straight to the Monster Plantation ride. This is my favorite ride and I wanted Caleigh's first ride to be my favorite one. I have ridden this ride on every trip I have ever made to Six Flags and I have been going since I was Caleigh's age. In 2008 it was announced that the ride would close for renovations and it reopened in 2009. Since I have not been on the ride since the revamp, I was super excited to see the changes myself. I was very happy to see that everything looked new and fresh but the classic animatronic monsters were still the same lovable and spooky ones I have always loved. Caleigh's reaction was luke warm and I wasn't sure she would want to repeat that ride any time soon.

We headed to the two small roller coasters next. Our theory was to knock out the larger rides she could ride in case the lines got really long and then spend the rest of our time in Bugs Bunny World where her smaller rides were. We hit up the Dalonagha Mine Train

and Wylie Coyote's Canyon Blaster.

She LOVED both coasters. She loved them so much, we rode multiple times. We also rode the Hanson Cars, where Caleigh concentrated really hard on driving Chad and I in a "real car." And when I say concentrated I mean she barely cracked a smile because she was concentrating so hard. But this according to her was one of her favorite rides.

The Tugboat,

the Hot Air Balloons, and the Carosel were also conquered without any fear.

The Sky Buckets and the park train let her get a view of the enitre park and she was very impressed at how big it was.

We contemplated taking her on the Scream Machine and the Mindbender but we never made it on them this time. As much as she loves roller coasters I am sure it won't be long until she conquers them as well. We made sure she got to ride every ride in Bugs Bunny World...at least once.

We even got to take in one show. Of course it was the Bugs Bunny Show and her reactions were so awesome!

There were a few rides we would have liked to have gotten to take her on but since we have a season pass, we now have the whole summer to ride them all we want.

We had such a blast and we didn't even make it out of the parking lot and onto the interstate to head home before she was completely asleep.