Syracuse Heritage Days

We love living in Syracuse!  Especially during the last weekend in June when we celebrated Syracuse Heritage Days with a trip to the carnival!  After all, what better way to spend a Friday night?

The kids were stoked.  And Danny and I were glad we chose to go on Friday instead of Saturday.  Believe it or not, it really wasn't very crowded.  We walked around the food stands for a while, and eventually made our way to the carnival rides.  We purchased a bunch of tickets and let the kids choose where to start.  It was a unanimous decision.  The carousel, of course!  

The girls still remembered their very first ride on a carousel when we visited Disneyland last spring, so this first ride was nostalgic and magical!  The only problem was I needed to stay outside the ride with Luke, and we didn't think that Danny would be allowed to supervise three children, so we told Johnny he needed to sit this one out.  I really didn't think he'd mind that much.  I was most definitely wrong.

We made up for it by letting Johnny ride in the vintage cars all by himself.  He was very excited to get in the car, but he was surprised when the car started moving!  I think it took him the whole ride to figure out what the heck was going on.  Finally, during the last 30 seconds or so, he actually gripped the steering wheel and cracked a half smile.  Silly boy!

After Johnny's incredibly exciting car ride, the kids moved on to the boats.  These boats were actually in water, and the kids were fascinated!

Claire opted out of the ride for some reason, so it was just Sophie and Johnny.  Sophie's older, so she was in charge of navigation.  Johnny's younger and well, a boy, so he rang the bell as consistently and loudly as possible!  Ahoy, matey!

It was still a pretty warm evening, so after Sophie and Johnny's voyage on the low seas, we headed back to the food stands for something cool and refreshing.  And we found just the treat!  Mama's favorite...snow cones!  Tiger's Blood flavor, of course.

Johnny, true to his almost two-year-old self, pitched a HUGE fit at not having his very own snow cone.  We were sitting with a large audience gathered to watch the free magician show, and after letting Johnny writhe and scream for a minute, we did what any good parents would do.  We bought him his own Spiderman Popsicle treat to shut him up.  John Boy: 1, Parents: 0.  Well played, John.  Well played. :)

There wasn't much else to do after we were done with our treats, and we still had tickets left, so back to the rides we went.  The kids are kind of into pirates right now, so we thought that they'd love the little pirate ride.  Sophie was pretty tired, so she stayed in the stroller for this one, and Claire and Johnny boarded the ride.  They were excited!

It went a bit faster than either of them anticipated, and it started to freak them out a little...

Ok, it freaked them out a lot!

While our children were crying for their lives, Danny and I stood there laughing and taking pictures.  What sympathetic parents we make!  But in our defense, as soon as Claire got off the ride, caught her breath, and wiped her tears she exclaimed, "That was fun!" :)

Believe it or not, even after the pirate ride the kids were up for one more grand adventure before it was time to head home.  They decided to do a ride all together, and decided on the classic cars.  Johnny was a good brother and played chauffeur.  After all, he was a pro.  He'd done this ride before. :)  

This time he was ready to take the wheel!

We had so much fun as a family!  We do so much with our extended family now that we're close that it isn't often we do something with just us.  And we like us.  Our kids are a blast, and they're so good to just go along with what we decide to do.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Being a parent is so cool!