Vacation! Days # 6 & 7 (07/17/2014 & 07/18/2014)

The main reason we were only in NYC until Wednesday is because we weren't sure how well Ben would sleep away from home, but it was really nice to have a 4 day stay-cation as well.  I love, love, LOVED being with Andy and Ben for 8 days straight.  I thought I would potentially be ready for a break, but it was so fun and I loved every minute of it except for when Ben was sleeping perpendicular to me in bed.  I am going to attempt to highlight the main events of the remainder of our fabulous vacation week.  We started our Thursday morning with a leisurely breakfast.  We ate outside, waved to the people and cars passing by, and acted silly.  I could get used to this...

I finally got to go to Ben's story-time/play group at the library.  He loves going and it made my day that I got to go with him.  He ran right in like such a big boy!  There was a special drum presentation, so we watched that as well.  Ben loves music and especially banging on drums.  He got a special "drum" that was perfectly loud for him.  (My mom has a 6 minute video if you're interested in hearing the music.)

I can't remember how we spent the rest of the day, but I'm sure it was doing something fun!  We had to rest up though because we had big plans to go to Ben's first amusement park on Friday.  I am too tired to expound on the details, but I can summarize by saying that it may have been Ben's happiest day…EVER.  I am not a big ride person, but Ben was in heaven.  He was shaking with excitement when it was his turn after he waited patiently in line.  Just look at that face!  My face looked like that, too.  

He actually cried almost every time he had to get off of a ride.  "Again! Again!  Fun!!!  Ride!  Ben drive!"

We started with a ride that Andy could go on too, but he was just fine going by himself as well.  

I still cannot believe he never tried to get out of any of the rides as they were going.  

He liked them all, but I think his favorite ride was probably the boats.  

I lost track of how many times he drove the boats.

I think I had equally as much fun watching him.  I was that obnoxious mom calling out to my kid every time he passed me.  

My one and only ride was the train, which was probably boring to Ben compared to getting to drive his own vehicles.

Too cool for trains. 

Thankfully the train would switch speeds to keep things exciting.  And Mr. Friendly was sure to wave to everyone he saw.  

Surprisingly, the only ride Ben did not want to go on was the pony ride.  "Watch 'em." 

We did break for lunch in between all of the fun, and the rides were an excellent motivator to get him to eat!

I'm pretty sure he is thanking Andy profusely for taking him to the amusement park in the pictures below.  I love you as much as the rides daddy, so that's a lot!!  Someone wants to be just like daddy...

It was a bit of a drive (2+ hours) but it was totally and completely worth it.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that each ride was a ticket and the tickets cost…$0.25 a piece.  We initially bought $5.00 worth of tickets and we had at least 8 tickets left at the end of the day!  As if we needed another reason to return!  Ben was getting a little antsy on the way home, so we stopped for happy hour and dinner.  

Dinner = Fries in Ben's world. 

Talk about a great ending to a great day!