This first blog is about Natalie's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe she is three already, but in some respects I can't believe she's only three. She officially turned three this past Tuesday, July 10th. We decided to surprise her with a trip to Dutch Wonderland for the day. It turned out to be a wonderful time. Natalie is much like her mommy and daddy in that she loves rides. Last year we went to Dutch Wonderland with cousins Alex and Chloe, but Natalie was not quite big enough to get on many of the rides she would have liked to...especially the roller coaster. But, not to fear, she has her daddy's genes, so she has sprouted up a lot in the last year, and rode the roller coaster 4 or 5 times on this trip! I was a little jealous, since I couldn't do many rides this year. I am just shy of being 4 months along with our second baby, and the doctor's do not recommend amusement rides when you're pregnant. I managed to get on a few with Natalie, and also enjoyed the water park as a welcome break from the heat. The heat was not nearly has unbearable as we thought it would be, but let's not kid ourselves...it was HOT! That actually worked in our favor a couple of times that day. Not a lot of people were at the park to begin with, so despite arriving a little later than we planned (surprise, surprise!), Natalie rode about half the rides before lunch time. We then decided to hit the water area, where Natalie proved to be a bit more courageous than we expected. She loves the water, but is not happy about going under. Daddy took her on a slide where she went under, but she bounced up after a moment of sheer shock, smiled, and before I knew it Dan had her going down the water slides on her own!!!! Our time there was cut short when a thunderstorm passed through. But, unlike 2/3 of the people there, we decided to wait it out. So, by the time the storm was through it was 10 degrees cooler, and more than half the people were gone. No more lines for rides!!! Natalie rode every ride in the park that she was able to, save for one slow moving tour boat (Natalie does not like the slow rides...she is definitely a thrill seeker), and some of her favorites she rode 4 and 5 times. It seems that her favorite ride this year was actually the log flume. She kept wanting to go back to that one. We also enjoyed a break while we watched The Frog Prince show at the park. Natalie loved to watch the "frog princes" dive into the pool, and thought it was the best thing ever when they splashed us thoroughly! We decided to head home around 8, and told Natalie that she would be able to pick one thing from the gift shop as a birthday present. She immediately latched onto a $50 stuffed giraffe (the child LOVES animals) that was not quite as tall as she. We spent the next half hour showing her everything in the gift shop hoping to dissuade her from the giraffe. In the end, a stuffed chicken and baby chick, and a princess cape worked! Thank goodness! After stopping for a late dinner at Cracker Barrel, we made it home just before midnight to discover that our power had been out for about 12 hours. Fortunately, there was a fleet of BGE trucks working in our neighborhood, the house wasn't really bad, and we didn't lose much from the freezer/fridge. We decided that we would stick it out, and within a half hour the power was back on! So, all in all, it was a great day! Tomorrow is Natalie's party, where we'll see many of you. Natalie is very excited to see everyone, and is looking forward to cake! We'll send an update about the party, and then hopefully I will be on track to send something once a week!
Here is a link to som pics from the day.
http://picasaweb.google.com
Love,
Dan, Danielle, Natalie, and Baby Smith
2 comments:
She looks like she has SO much fun! I totally want to take Aiden there now. Maybe for his third B'day... but it might be cold in the winter time. hehe
You have some really great shots! She's grown so fast in just the few short months and between our visits!!! GEEZ O PEEZ!!!
Looks like Mom and Dad had fun too.:)
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