Boone, Day 3

Friday morning we decided to take the kids to Tweetsie Railroad. This little amusement park is only open during the Summer and early Fall so many of the times we are up in Boone, we aren't able to go. Since Ava had her little buddies with her, we thought this would be the perfect time to go, and they are all at the perfect age to enjoy this park.



We started off on the train. They were all excited to ride and Ava wanted absolutely nothing to do with me (go figure!), but since I planned my seat just right, it wasn't long before all 3 were over on my side of the train! :)



They cowboys had a gun fight with outlaws and then later they had a fight with the Indians. Brody didn't much care for the gun fights- I don't think he knew what to do, but the other 2 were just eating it up! The Indians and Cowboys even came on the train.



After the train ride, they insisted on visiting the jail.



We asked them what they wanted to do and they all decided on mining for gems, so we headed up to miner's mountain. In order to get there you can either take the shuttle bus or you can ride the chair lift. Well obviously we opted for the chair lift. Gigi was Brody's partner that day (and yes, its like 9:30 and mom has her box of popcorn!)



We only bought 1 bucket of sand to split between all of them- which worked out perfect! We showed them how to do it and then they got to have fun looking for gems :)



They were all very serious about finding different ones and lining them up.



It was fun and well worth the $5 we each paid.



After bagging up their gems, I had shocker moment of the day #1- Ava wanted to ride the scrambler- and not the mini scrambler like they have at the fair- the big time scrambler. AND she wanted to ride it with Brody. You know, I wasn't quite ready for my baby to ride a big ride by herself, so I was pretty anxious the entire ride. Jenny rode with Trevor in the one behind them.



She was all smiles at the beginning, and Jenny was yelling at Brody to make sure he took good care of her. However, this ride was quite possibly the longest ride I have ever watched. Jenny even started saying as she swung by, 'Is this ride ever going to end?!'



So needless to say, by the end of the ride, Ava's face wasn't smiling anymore, but she didn't cry and we both survived her first time riding a 'big kid' ride without an adult. I figured we wouldn't have to worry about another 'big kid' ride the rest of the day.



We decided to visit the petting zoo and boy was it entertaining. They had all kinds of animals, and even these Emu's, which were quite possibly the funniest thing we saw. It would stick its head up and out, I was afraid to get too close and I ended up leaving some food on the fence- but even that was tricky because this animal was quick and its head would be down by the ground and pop up above the fence before you knew it! We had a good laugh watching me try to feed it!

 





They had some goats that were walking around and the kids had fun petting them. Ava still hadn't fed one (as in hold her hand out and let it eat from her hand) and I was determined to make the child do it.

 



The first time she got close, but jerked it away at the last minute.



Second time, same thing...



Third time, same thing, only this time she didn't get nearly as close and she was crying. Yes, I'm that mother that is going to force her child, kicking and screaming to do something. It's called helping them grow and by this time I just wasn't going to let her walk away scared. My Mom and Grammy both had to walk away- they couldn't handle it. So we had a little chat and I threatened to end her fun at Tweetsie and guess what?!



5th times a charm! haha! She did it and she was glad she did it. Poor goat, he was probably tired of Ava teasing him with the food, I'm sure he was glad to finally get some! haha!



After finally feeding the goat, she was fine and happy and excited that she actually did it (see Gigi?!) and we finished walking the loop around the petting zoo.



We headed to do a couple more-my-speed rides before heading back down the mountain.



Thankfully Tweetsie wasn't crowded it all and we didn't have to wait in any lines. And the weather was absolutely perfect! It might have even been a tad on the cool side since everywhere we stopped, we preferred to stand/sit in the sun!









We rode the chair lift back down the mountain (one of their favorite parts of the day was riding this thing up and down the mountain)





At the bottom there were more rides to be ridden.



Brody and Ava wanted to ride the Ferris wheel but Gigi didn't think they should go by themselves, so she invited herself to join them. I think Ava was a little bummed she wasn't riding it alone with Brody (which I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that or not... :) ) Trevor wasn't tall enough to ride, so he rode the airplanes over and over and over again. There wasn't ever a line, so he didn't even have to get off!


We took the cars out for a spin. Grammy rode with Ava



Trevor drove me around



And Jenny's chauffeur was Brody.

It was a short track, but I definitely liked it better than Disney's. They only had the outside lane bumpers so the kids were driving more than what they can at Disney. They all did pretty well!





Shocker of the Day #2- Ava wanted to ride the tilt-a-whirl. They did this again without an adult. She had last ridden the tilt-a-whirl when Jason was riding with them at the fair and she wasn't super crazy about it. Of course, that ride was pretty long and they spun a lot, so I was very surprised she wanted to ride this. Again, she started out smiling....



But then this face happened.... and I thought- oh no!



Jenny snapped an even better shot of 'the face' haha!



However, when she made it off, she eventually gave us a thumbs-up. It was a shaky, hesitant thumbs-up but it was a thumbs-up nonetheless.



It wasn't until she was out of the car did the smile start to creep across her face.



Then we finally got a bigger smile and a better thumbs up!



These two... words could never describe!





Ava wanted to watch a show, so we had a few minutes to kill before it started. The kids found horses and a stagecoach and they were all three constantly climbing over the horses or into the stagecoach.





Shocker-of-the-Day #3.  Ava wanted to watch the cloggers (did you think that was a lost art? Well its alive at Tweetsie!) and when they asked for volunteers to come up on stage, guess who volunteered?! My girl! I've said it before- she is a different person when she is dancing!



She got up there and danced with the girls and thought she was something else!



Afterwards they posed for pictures and the boys didn't want anything to do with them (I'm sure Jason is saying Hallelujah right now). Ava on the other hand, thought it was absolutely divine!

Everyone was getting pretty tired at that point and we were going to go out to eat in Blowing Rock so we decided to head back to Grammy's to freshen up and get Big Papa. Before we left, Ava wanted to ride the train one more time. The boys wanted to ride another ride, so Jenny took them while we rode the train. I think it moved about 10 feet down the track and Ava was out! She was tired! After the train ride, the boys and Jenny were waiting on us and we headed out, and I think its safe to say everyone had a good time!