Taking the Kiddos to THE CARNIVAL!

Hey all! I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 2.0!

On Tuesday evening, Paul and I took Ellie, Clementine, and Clark to the East Pennsboro Carnival at Adams-Ricci Park. We took the girls last year, so this was our first time with all three kids. I was confident we could do it. Parents do it every day! I didn't expect it to be easy, but I did expect it to be worth it!

We learned a couple hacks from our trip last year... like pack food and water! (ROOKIE MISTAKE!) So armed with water, pretzels, bananas, baby carrots, and a couple cheese balls, we were ready to go!

The East Pennsboro Carnival is super fun but I think it's pretty expensive. I feel like it's cheaper to just go to Knoebels! But lucky for us, we are Auntie Megan and Uncle Paul, and we can spoil these special kids.

*Sorry some of the pics aren't that great. It was very sunny and I honestly couldn't even tell what I was taking a picture of half the time!

First it was the Dizzy Bears with the girls. I made sure I spun us around and made us very dizzy! 

Then the girls and I rode the Crazy Bus. It actually goes up very high!

Ellie piloted the helicopter. I rode this with Clementine last year, but not she is tall enough to ride it with her sister.

Whaddup, Clark? At first, he just watched the girls on the rides. He  was having fun watching everything that was happening.

We decided to get Clark in on the action with the Bumpin' Buggies!

Choo choo!

Clark LOVED the train! All night, he kept saying, "Train. Train. Train."

Then Paul took the girls on the ferris wheel. I knew Ellie would like it. I checked with Clementine to make sure she wanted to go up that high. She gave me an emphatic YES!

Ellie is a daredevil. She wanted to ride the Super Shot. This is one of those rides that slowly raises you up VERY high, lets you chill there for a minute, and then WHOOSH drops you back down. It's definitely not what you think of when you think of a carnival ride. Ellie was tall enough to ride it ALONE but I made Paul ride it with her. (THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS GETTING ON THAT THING!!!!) Ellie LOVED it! She is crazy! I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "Going down!" (Note: SHE IS 5 YEARS OLD!) I will be honest, as I watched it raise up, I did NOT like it and regretted letting her ride it! (Not because it didn't appear safe, just because it was my gut reaction to seeing her up so high!)

Then the girls rode the Dragon Wagon roller coaster. They loved it! Clementine ended up riding it again by herself while Paul and Ellie were off riding the big kid rides! (Yes, Paul rode some more thrill rides with Ellie later on.)

Clark and I watched. He kept saying "Dragon!"

She's a big girl riding all by herself! 

Paul saw his pal Freddy volunteering at the carnival!

More train fun!

All by herself she couldn't figure out how to raise up the helicopter but she still had fun!

Ellie wanted to ride the Super Shot again, but as it raised up, she started to have second thoughts! Paul held her hand, talked her through it and calmed her down. I told her how proud I was of her for staying calm even though she was scared! Later on I asked her why she was scared the second time and not the first time. She said she didn't know.

Up past their bedtime!!!!

It was time for our last ride of the night.... the carousel! 

All in all, we were at the carnival for a little over 3 hours. Clementine rode 16 rides, Clark rode 7 (including the train twice!) and Ellie rode nearly 20!

Paul and I were exhausted. Clementine fell asleep on the way home. Ellie still had a bit of energy left. Clark looked tired, but when he got home and saw his mommy and daddy he got a second wind!

I slept well that night!

Does your town have any fun carnivals?