A Big Prize Earned

All summer long, Alex has wanted a specific fire engine from the souvenir stand at Playland. All summer long, the same operator has answered his questions about the fire engine, along with other vehicles they have there. I told the operator that he had to earn those cars by using potty.

Since Alex has been such a Potty Champ and has achieved the first step of keeping his underwear dry all day long - he's earned his first big prize; the fire engine! Daddy had wanted to do a family day at Playland so, today was the day!

We traveled with Daddy to Playland and the FIRST place we went was the souvenir stand. I told the operator there that Alex had finally won his fire engine! But Alex didn't want the tower ladder engine they had there by now. He preferred the school bus. Well, OK. Fine.

Mommy bought a whole bunch of souvenirs to remind her of this special summer spent at Playland (especially since it won't be around for much longer). I bought a Playland T-shirt for Alex, a pennant for his room to match his new adventure page that's coming, and a boat for Mommy's room, on which I'm going to paint 'Playland 2010'. Then we had lunch. Alex didn't want the Nathan's fries we got him. He wanted 'regular' fries (read: Burger King's). AND he wanted his pink lemonade!
Then we had fun with Daddy. We took a Lake Boat cruise with Captain Bill. I tried to get Alex to take some Quiet Time while we waited for the boat to leave. So, Daddy laid down on the seat. Alex told Daddy to get up right away.

"This is the steamboat. This is not Mommy and Daddy bedroom. You can't take a nap on the steamboat!"

We went on lots of rides like the carousel and the Ferris wheel and the submarine and on the antique cars twice! We played arcade games and got a special prize. While Alex and Daddy were on the carousel, Mommy snuck off to the first arcade. There, I won 134 tickets in a single jackpot, making it possible to finally win Alex's beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
See, the second arcade was out of them by the time we won the 350 tickets it required. We settled for an F-16 fighter jet. That very same day, we saw the VW Beetle in the first arcade. They wouldn't let me trade the prizes. Soooo, I won it anyway! It was a fun and prize packed summer at Playland afterall.

Alex was wiped out, but hanging in there. He babbled all the way home in the cab, telling the cab driver, Kate, what his favorite part of the day was. When Alex said "My favorite part was the steamboat." and Dan responded, Alex said "No, not you. I was talking to the cab driver."

We got the driver's attention so that Alex could tell her all about his day.

Saturday, August 21, 2010