10 days before Easter, I told Josiah about the trip we would be going on after church and lunch with my family. Well he was so excited and kept asking if it was Easter yet, so I had to make him a little daily countdown so he'd know when it was time to go. Just Josiah and I went with my cousin Amy, and her son, John (a.k.a: Josiah's best friend) to Massanutten with my Aunt Jeanie and other cousin Alexis. Amy & I drove together with the two boys (2 1/2 & 4) Sunday afternoon. What should have been a 4-5 hour trip ended up taking more like 6 due to terrible traffic and multiple potty/food/missing 1 boy's Happy Meal toy stops. We thought for sure they would nap in the car, but nooo... Although I understand they were cooped up for a long time and overtired, Amy & I were ready to pull our hair out by the time we finally got to the mountains! Josiah ended up falling asleep at 7:30 in the car... and got to sleep about 30 minutes before we arrived and of course he was too excited to stay asleep and go straight to bed. Oh well, it was vacation.
The next morning, we made breakfast and then took the boys to a couple of the playgrounds at the Resort. They burned lots of energy and came home and napped well after lunch. Then we got to go to the indoor waterpark. Josiah was soooo excited since we had been there a few months ago. He loved riding on the intertube with me in the Lazy River, wearing his "goo-goo-goggles" so the water wouldn't get in his eyes, swimming in the pools. And then I did what I can't believe I did. We had walked up to the smallest of the big slides, and I asked the lifeguard if Josiah could ride down with me and he said no, but then he said that he could go by himself, but he had to take his lifevest off. Well, knowing how he hates getting water in his face and how timid he can be with slides at regular parks if they're new, I didn't think he'd even want to, but I asked anyway. And he said yes! So, since Amy & John were on another ride, I sent my 2 1/2 year old down this big, fast waterslide all by himself. And as I saw him turn the first curve, he got flipped over and that dumb 16 year old lifeguard wouldn't let me go down to get him until he was all the way off at the bottom. I couldn't see the rest of the slide, but I could see the little landing part, and to my surprise, he just got up, stood there wiping his eyes and waited for me. And he was so excited when I asked him about it! He definitely had fun!
The next day, we went to Safari Park which is about 1 1/2 hrs away near Natural Bridge. It was the craziest thing I've ever experienced. You buy buckets of animal feed and then drive all through the property and llamas, camels, deer, ostriches, zebras, buffalo, and all kinds of animals just come right up to your window and eat out of your bucket. HILARIOUS and soooo worth it with little kids. Josiah loved it. We weren't supposed to feed the zebras, but before we knew it, one came to our window, stuck his head in and we were freaking out! So Amy threw some feed out on the ground to get him out so we could drive away! It was the craziest thing to have these huge wild animals sticking their heads in my car! Afterwards there was a great petting zoo too and the boys just loved it.
The next day we planned to drive home, and then I had a great idea. It wasn't exactly on the way, but we decided to drive across the state to IKEA! Amy & I both love shopping there, and we knew that if we made it there by lunchtime, we could eat there and also, they have a kids' playplace where you can drop the kids off while you shop! Perfect! It made for a long day, but thankfully the boys had fun, we had fun shopping and then they crashed for most of the ride home.
