Sunday, August 03, 2014

Summery Summary - Part Lagoon

It's that time of year again. Our third annual bum-off-your-dad's-work's-lagoon-day. Coincidentally it was also SUU Alumni Lagoon Day, but luckily we had snazzy G&K shirts to camouflage us so none of our SUU Alum would recognize us. Am I the only one who is super awkward running into people I haven't seen in 5 years? See. You'd be glad you were camouflaged into a group filled with people you had no obligation to suffer through 5-year stale small talk with, too.

Those t-shirts are prized possessions. It took me two years of petitioning to become official looking imitators of the G&K Lagoon Gang. But, let's face it, after our matchy matchy experience at Disney, we have learned there's no other way to experience an amusement park. In fact, we have successfully convinced Eli that matching shirts are a mandatory requirement for entering a fun filled park.

The night before we went to Lagoon, Jeff was getting Eli ready for bed and tried to put him in one of his Disney shirts. Eli protested, exclaiming, "DAD! THIS SHIRT IS ONLY FOR DISNEYLAND AND LAGOON!" Jeff gave up the battle and put him in a non-Disney shirt.

Then the morning of Lagoon, he-who-normally-refuses-to-get-dressed-in-the-morning emerged from his room in a fresh Disney shirt, announcing he was all ready for Lagoon. I don't want to be there for the day he notices our family is the only family at amusement parks with the same exact shirts on. I pray that he's 25 before his social awareness becomes refined enough to put a stop to his mother's somewhat cheesy obsessions.
The boys were very attached to their hand stamps. They were eager to show them off for every picture.
Eli remembered the space ride from last year. He was talking about it the whole way through the front gates and then as soon as we got in the vicinity of Kiddie Land he ran straight to the ride -- knowing exactly where it was.

Behold the face of pure joy:
If the ride involved a car, we were there. Again and again.
And again.

Carson modeling his stamp while waiting for Eli to finish round 8 of bumper cars.
When I noticed the picture of Carson and Jeff was so cute, I demanded one of my own.
Soon enough we met up with legitimate G&Kers.
Brooke's riding buddy and Madison's cuddle buddy.

Rounds 28,29 and 30 at bumper cars. Eli completely loved bumper cars. My mom got Madison to fall asleep, and we were cracking up to see such a little baby sucking her thumb.
Especially considering the rest of her hand's placement.
And then this glorious moment happened:
Do you see how cute we are?!?! The secret -- as always -- tooting noises. The only way to get a genuine smile out of the one on the right. I'll waive my strict rule of no tooting noises in the name of a picture this adorable.
We went on the log ride with all the children being complete dolls waiting in line.
Pre drop -- Excell boat.
Post drop -- Golden Gang.
Carson spent the day spontaneously attacking my dad's legs in his version of a hug. When my Dad would pick him up, he was sure to flash a few goofy faces to provide some entertainment for his carrier.
There was some grumbling when I requested everyone pose for this picture (cough Jeff cough), but I knew it would turn out super cute! I love this one!
Why Lagoon has zoo animals is still confusing to me, but we enjoyed our train ride checking out the creatures in pint-sized cages nonetheless.
I love Lagoon's kid area! It's super shaded, the rides are perfect, and they have a lot of options without terribly long lines. Other than the throw up spewed all over the ground mid-day, I'd say our experience in Kiddie Land was completely positive!
Sorry everyone else, but Eli's fav cousin is currently Madison. "Until she gets too big." He's assured me.
Carson and Spencer rode Red Rock Rally together and were as adorable as one could imagine. They encouraged each other to keep their hands up -- until they got to the whip around the corner, and they'd both immediately clutch onto the sides for safety.
Lagoon Day totally made up for the last 12 activities my sister and I have done together where we failed to document each other's existence. We got so many great cousin pictures this outing!
And look, I even got an action shot of her! Success!
It took approximately .39 seconds for Carson to fall asleep once we made it back to the car. It was the perfect day!

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Love the pictures! You got so many cute ones! Eli's face on the dragon ride is adorable as is the shot of Carson and Spencer holding their little arms in the air on the jeep ride. So fun to spend the day with the Excells!

P.S. Has anyone told you what a clever blog title this is?

Kim said...

I was just going to tell you what a clever blog title this is, but your sister beat me to it. Love it!!

Your beginning was priceless with the SUU paragraph which led right into the next few paragraphs about the matching t-shirts. So funny!

Aren't you glad to know your grandfather is an avid reader of your blog and enjoys your creative writing style so much? He's not the only one! I can hardly wait for each installment of Lucky Number 8 to read all about your descriptive experiences.

I'm so glad you got a picture of Madison asleep sucking her thumb. And I'm really happy you got a picture of the five children waiting in line for the log ride. I was watching them from a distance and thought they looked so cute, but my picture didn't turn out at all.

Love the group shot in the train station and the cough-out to Jeff. So funny! You were right--it made for a very cute picture. Too bad you were not in it!!!

I laughed out loud about how long it took Carson to fall asleep in the car. Entertaining writing style! Keep up the good work!