Theme of the Week: Themeparks!

Dreamworld.

Big day. Huge. Ty went on his first field trip. To an amusement park. With friends at After School Care. Without Jay or I.

Let that one soak in. The kid isn’t even 5 yet. What was I thinking?!?!?! Apparently I didn’t have anything to worry about as he seems to have had a great day. It was all he could talk about that night. And the teachers didn’t report back any negative feedback. And he survived.

The next day Ty went to “school” with spiked hair, deodorant, and cologne. Lord help me…

Nanny cam.

Not many pictures from the nanny cam this week.. I better have a chat with the help…

We went into the weekend with no plans. I thought I wouldn’t have anything to blog about this week. I thought wrong…

Chocolate.

I told Em that I would go with her to the marina on Friday night. We ate pizza at home while Ty and Lily watched Night at the Museum 3, then Em and I hopped on the buggy for a girls night out. We were both thinking we needed some dessert – preferably chocolate cake. We checked out the menu at all of the restaurants at the marina – no chocolate cake. So we decided to have wine for dessert.

We were sitting at the wine bar, having fun, talking about how we should probably open up a chocolate bar in one of the empty shops at the marina, when an older gentleman asked if he could sit on the couch across from us. We chatted with him through a second (maybe third for Em) glass of wine. We talked about Australia, the outback, the spiders and snakes, Nashville, New York, our chocolate bar idea (he promised he would buy chocolate from there if we opened it), his grandkids, and his life on his boat. The wine bar was winding down so we walked over to the tavern. On the way there, we realized we didn’t even know his name – Wayne.

Tavern.

There was a little band playing at the tavern, so we found a seat on a couch and made ourselves comfortable. We didn’t know any of the songs that the band was playing, so when they did play something we knew, we jumped up and danced. Wayne was our dancing buddy for the evening. :). There were some characters out which made people watching fantastic. We watched one poor hideously drunk girl get kicked out of the bar. Em drooled over a married bouncer. So many different types of people and styles – so fun! I was getting tired so we went home a bit before 12:30.

Movie World.

Saturday morning Jay cooked brekky and we lounged around for a while. Ty thought it would be fun to go to Movie World. It is 10 minutes from the house, we have season passes, we didn’t have anything in mind for the day, so sure! The kids were great. Lily walked her way through most of the park. She LOVED the carousel – didn’t want to get off! Ty and Jay drove the little “driving school” cars. We watched the stunt show and a Rio 4D movie. Em decided that Ty probably needs a super hero for an uncle (after seeing Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern). The parade was a Carnivale theme. It was awesome! Apparently Movie World was having a Carnivale party that night – the last of 7. The kids were tired, but Em and I thought maybe we should go back that night. Even though Em and I had left Jay home with the kids on Friday night and I felt really guilty, it sounded like a cool experience. Tickets were only $20 since we were pass holders. Ok, we better go.

Carnivale.

We went home, ate dinner, freshened up a bit. Jay worked on Brumby a little, Ty slept (exhausted), and played with a sticker book with Lily.

Em and I headed back to Movie World. We took a wrong turn, which ended up working out great because as we were about to pay for 2 tickets, some lady gave us a spare free ticket. $20 later and we were in! Whoa. As soon as we walked in the gate, we were in awe. Jazz bands in the street, showgirls on stilts, people dancing with fire, extinguishing fire with their mouths, breathing fire, millions of bubbles falling from the ceiling, salsa dancers, unicycle riders, girls dancing on silks hanging from the ceiling, food vendors, a bar, amazing caramelized bacon….whoa. Em and I just had to buy masks for the occasion. Best purchase ever. It was so fun to walk around with our masks on. She and I kept looking at each other and laughing – where the heck were we?!?!

At 9:00, the parade started. Whoa. If I thought I was having sensory overload earlier in the evening…. The floats were AMAZING. More stilts! More dancers! More bands! More bubbles! More drummers! More amazing costumes! More fire breathers! More showgirls! More! More! More! Beads and tinsel! Dancing in the street!

Seriously. Seriously. Seriously cool. Seriously.

If someone wasn’t completely and utterly entertained at Movie World Carnivale, they had to have been dead (or nearly dead). For 3.5 hours, I was transported from Australia to either New Orleans or Rio de Jeneiro (seemed to be a mash up of the two places). Wherever it was, it was awesome.