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May 27, 2014

Mira’s Cedar Point Birthday Extravaganza

Today, Mira woke up as a seven year old.

SEVEN.

Wait. Wasn’t she just a curly-headed toddler not that long ago?

Last year, Mira insisted on the big party with all of her friends from school there. This year, she traded in the big party for the chance to spend two days at Cedar Point over Memorial Day weekend. We were already going up on Saturday for Blogger Day (disclosure: Cedar Point furnished our park tickets and provided lunch on Saturday), but Mira was interested in making it a two-day long trip, and willing to give up a chance at having a big party in favor of an amusement park adventure.

So, we did. We spent two days at Cedar Point, staying at the Sandcastle Suites resort on-site. Even though Cordy was firmly against the idea of riding anything other than the Tilt-o-Whirl, she agreed to come along, too, just because it was Mira’s birthday weekend.

We arrived shortly after opening on Saturday. Mira was a little disappointed that she was half an inch too short to meet the 52″ height requirement. She was still tall enough for most of the rides, which only require 48″, but it still meant the GateKeeper – quite possibly MY favorite roller coaster – was still off-limits for her.

GateKeeper over the main entrance (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

Our first ride of the day was the Cedar Downs racing carousel, which at this point is a tradition for us. It’s a carousel, so it’s a gentle enough first ride of the day for Cordy, but it also goes faster than a typical carousel, and the horses in each row go back and forth as well as up and down, so there’s a winner in each row by the end of the ride.

Cordy’s many trips on Cedar Downs over the years

After our first ride, we stopped for our sponsored lunch. Cedar Point, having been tipped off by me that we were celebrating Mira’s birthday, had a little surprise for Mira.

Thank you, Bryan, for the fantastic surprise for Mira!

She was thrilled to have a chocolate Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She had asked us for cake and ice cream for her birthday, and was stunned to realize she could get both all at once.

After lunch, it was time to get back to the rides. Mira had asked her sister to ride just one roller coaster with her for her birthday. Cordy has only ever been on one, the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and used to love it, but then last year became scared of it and refused to ride it anymore.

We still use it to track how big she’s getting.

Cordy wanted to ride the Mine Ride as quickly as possible to get her obligation to her sister over with, but then something amazing happened. We all rode it…and Cordy loved it. Then asked to ride it again with her sister.

second and third rows (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

We then went to Camp Snoopy to allow the kids some time to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl a few times. (That ride never gets old.) Right next to Camp Snoopy is the redesigned Midway area, where we couldn’t pass up the Monster and the new Pipe Scream.

At that point, Mira was ready for her next roller coaster. She went for another favorite of hers (and mine): the Iron Dragon. Cordy had never been on this suspended coaster before, but we talked her into it. And? She loved it! Score! Two for two!

Cordy’s smiling at the end of the ride! (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

At this point it was getting really warm, so Aaron convinced Mira to go on Thunder Canyon to cool off. It’s a water ride where you will get wet on the ride. Mira was the unlucky one on their raft to pass under every waterfall. She was drenched.

While they enjoyed having water dumped on them, Cordy and I made friends with the petting zoo animals in Frontiertown. Cordy met her hair-twin, an alpaca she named Andrew.

It was late in the day at that point. Before we could have dinner, though, the kids insisted we visit the dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive. It’s a cool area to learn about lots of dinosaurs, with full-size dinosaurs that move and roar and generally look menacing. All of us love reading about the dinosaurs. But we also love being goofy around them, too.

What do you mean don’t turn around? (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

Mira finished the night with the Corkscrew roller coaster, and then we called it a night.

The next morning, though, we were up bright and early to take advantage of the one hour early entry for guests staying at the Cedar Point resorts. Our first stop: GateKeeper. (Well, for those of us who could ride it.) It’s definitely my favorite – it’s a winged coaster, and probably the smoothest roller coaster in existence.

Meanwhile, Cordy and Mira went on the Iron Dragon again…all by themselves. I’ll admit that freaked me out a little, because I’m not ready to consider them standing in lines and riding rides without us, but they were fine. They ended up riding it twice together, because Aaron and I had another roller coaster to conquer: Millennium Force.

Over 300 feet tall, 93 miles per hour top speed, and voted the best steel coaster. It’s intense. I’ll just leave it at that.

At that point, Mira had yet to ride any new roller coasters. Millennium Force was a little outside of her comfort zone, so we offered to take her on the Mean Streak, Cedar Point’s big wooden roller coaster. I was sure she’d be scared of it, but apparently turning seven years old gives you a lot of courage. As soon as it was over, her first words were, “Can we ride it again?” (Cordy decided she was done with coasters for this trip and refused to ride. She drove me around on the antique cars while Aaron and Mira took a second turn on the Mean Streak.)

After two trips on the Mean Streak, we then suggested Magnum XL-200. It’s only 200 feet tall instead of the 300 of Millennium Force, and not quite as fast. Mira trusted our opinion of it, and we stood in line again. I was concerned Mira was going to change her mind on this one. It’s tall. But she decided to be brave and go through with it.

As we were going up the first hill, I could see the worry on her face. I held her hand and told her it would be fun. And then by the end of the ride: “That was awesome! Can we ride it again?” We did ride it again, and even tried to be cheesy for the ride camera.

We forgot to tell Mira to give a thumbs up. She was having too much fun, anyway.

Before we left Cedar Point on Sunday, we bought Mira her first Ride Warrior t-shirt. She had earned it. As we started the drive home, I asked her what she thought of our trip to Cedar Point as her birthday present. “Best. Birthday. Ever!” And then she promptly fell asleep, holding tight to her pink polar bear and her newly purchased stuffed blue dinosaur.

She may be a ride warrior, but she’s still only seven. Happy birthday, Mira!

Thank you to Cedar Point for the park tickets and lunch, and for helping to arrange for Mira’s surprise cake. Also, thanks to Wiccy and Steve for joining us on the trip, helping with the kids, and taking photos. Mira’s summer plans include growing half an inch so she can ride the GateKeeper when we’re back later this year!

Filed Under: family time, local fun, Mira, travel ·

Jan 8, 2014

Polar Vortex Cabin Fever

By Christina ·

If you haven’t been on social media or turned on the TV in the past couple of days, you may not know that it’s been cold outside for much of the US. Like, really cold.

The arctic conditions arrived for us at the very end of Sunday night. I was a little disappointed that the storm track changed, so instead of getting a lot of snow to go with our frigid weather, we instead had a lot of rain, followed by the cold air. Others may not like the snow, but for me if it’s going to be cold, then bring on the snow and at least make it pretty.

This? Not so pretty.

The kids were supposed to go back to school on Monday. With the below zero temperatures expected, though, the call was made on Sunday night to cancel classes. Honestly? I wasn’t upset about it. I didn’t want the kids to go out in that weather, and I wasn’t really ready for them to go back yet. I mean, I’m ready to get back to a regular routine again, but I’m not ready to deal with the homework arguments or calls home from the school or anxiety breakdowns from Cordy.

Since we were mostly at home over the weekend, getting ready to start school and work again, Monday was a little rough. The morning wasn’t too bad, but by noon the kids were growing tired of each other and bored with everything there was to do in the house. Aaron left work at lunchtime to work from home the remainder of the day, giving me a little bit of a break from the “Make her leave me alone!” and the “Cordy won’t play a game with me, mom, will you?”

But soon the cabin fever was affecting everyone. I started to look for things to do involving the cold weather. Well, other than teaching the kids how to roll towels and jam them in windowsills to keep out the cold air. Although that is a useful skill to teach.

Those who had received the cold air earlier than us (looking at you, Minnesota and Chiberia) had already been discussing things you can only do when it’s super cold outside. Like blowing bubbles that instantly turn into beautiful frozen globes. Or filling balloons with colored water and leaving them outside to become giant marbles when you stripped off the balloon. The ideas sounded fun, but we were limited to supplies on-hand, which didn’t include bubbles or balloons.

Then I saw the boiling water trick. (Sublimation, if you want the scientific principle behind it.) Hey, we could do that! All we needed was something to hold water and a heat source – I can provide those two things.

So I told Cordy and Mira that if they could give us just a little bit of peace and quiet to get some work done, we’d do a really neat science experiment that would seem like magic at the end of the day. Their curiosity was immediate, and thankfully bought me some solid work time.

When they couldn’t wait any longer, and when Aaron was finished with his work, we started a pot of water on the stove. This took two adults, one to handle the water and one to make a video of it. (Because videotaping it ensured that we could let them watch it again later if needed.) It was about -4 degrees outside, with a -30 wind chill, so conditions were just right.

The result? So much fun:

Mira couldn’t stop giggling, and asked us to do it twice. Actually, she asked us to repeat the experiment several times, but we stopped after two.

And, unlike some videos I saw of the same trick, no one got burned. I only wish we had a super soaker watergun on hand to shoot out the boiling water in style instead of our saucepan method.

Who says science isn’t fun?

Filed Under: family time, geek paradise ·

Sep 17, 2013

My BloggyCon13 and Cedar Point Whirlwind Weekend

By Christina ·

I’m still recovering from a weekend so busy that it felt like five days instead of two and a half. I spent the weekend in Sandusky at Cedar Point for BloggyCon. It was my first time attending this conference, but certainly not my first trip to Cedar Point. I couldn’t pass up the chance to multi-task by expanding my blogging knowledge while having some fun with the family all in the same weekend.

Cordy decided not to come with us. She’s becoming increasingly anxious about roller coasters, not even wanting to be in the same location as one. I didn’t want to push the issue and further her anxiety, so when she quietly asked if she could stay home, I asked my mom if she could stay with her for the weekend. My mom agreed, and Cordy got to spend some time with grandma while Aaron, Mira and I drove north as soon as school was out on Friday.

This was also the opening weekend of HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. They go above and beyond to decorate every inch of the park with ghosts, skeletons, and plenty of pumpkins. There are also several haunted house attractions, too, although we didn’t get the chance to go to any except the kids’ not-so-scary haunted house.

This guy is HUGE and wakes up about every two minutes.

We arrived on Friday night around 7:30, quickly checked into our room at Hotel Breakers, then made our way to the boardwalk to pick up my registration materials for BloggyCon and then enter the park for some evening fun. The sun was just going down, and it was hard not to stop and admire the gorgeous views of Lake Erie, even if it was windy and cold.

Mira took a nap in the car on the way up, and was prepared to stay up late, since the park was open until midnight. We brought two friends with us, and one of them was happy to watch Mira while we went on a few coasters she was too small for. The park wasn’t too crowded, and the haunted houses were attracting a lot of the crowd, meaning we were able to walk right on several roller coasters.

I finally got to ride the Gatekeeper, the new winged coaster. It’s now my favorite ride ever. If you ever get the chance, you must try this coaster – the moments of weightlessness, the smooth turns and flips, and the experience of sitting out away from the track are amazing. I preferred the left wing, but it’s worth trying both sides.

We decided to call it a night around 11:30, realizing that BloggyCon sessions would begin at 9am the next morning. Waking up on Saturday wasn’t too easy, but a stunning view of the sun reflecting off the lake helped wake me up.

The BloggyCon sessions were interesting. I attended a sessions on building and engaging your community, Pinterest, affiliate marketing, finding sponsorship, and SEO. Honda was one of the sponsors, and they gave a great talk on preparing the perfect pitch when reaching out to brands for sponsorship. I took a lot of notes in that session.

There were several topics discussed that I already knew most of the details on. I’ve been blogging since 2005, so I’d hope by now that I have the basics under control! But even old bloggers can learn new tricks, and be reminded of practices they should be doing, and I did pick up a lot of new ideas in the SEO session.

The problem for me, as always, is finding the time to implement the things I need to do. I can’t claim blogging is boring by any means – as soon as I think I have it down, someone suggests a better way to do things, and then it’s back to square one.

Don’t think it was all note-taking and blog business, though. Honda provided everyone with a teddy bear and challenged us to take photos of the bear around Cedar Point. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably saw several silly photos with my bear. I had far too much fun with it.

Hang on, friends! I’ll rescue you with this claw device!

Why is everyone running?

Beautiful day on Lake Erie.

Honda also showed off their new 2014 Odyssey. The big draw was the built-in vacuum cleaner. Forget my wish for a flying car – give me a minivan with a vacuum:

An in-car vacuum!

After the morning and early afternoon sessions, it was time to relax and enjoy Cedar Point. I met up with Aaron, Mira, and our friends for more fun in the park. Since it was HalloWeekends, Mira dressed in her new Halloween costume and entered the kids’ costume contest.

Meet Robin.

She didn’t win, but she had fun. Then it was off to trick-or-treat with the dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive! The dinosaurs even dressed up for us:

I’m pretty!

I’m prettier – I’m a pretty princess!

Then it was time for more rides. Mira is our adventure junkie and loves roller coasters, as long as they’re not too tall. She rode the Corkscrew, the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and the Iron Dragon several times.

And a few less scary rides.

We went on as many rides as our stomachs could handle, closing the park down with a last ride on the Raptor just before midnight. Mira, though, had finally given in to her exhaustion, and fell asleep on the bench while waiting for us.

Aaron had to carry her back to our hotel room

I didn’t want to leave on Sunday. I love Cedar Point, and I love the entire Lake Erie region. I could easily spend a week out by the lake, exploring the sights on the shores and islands.

As we drove away, Mira sighed in a sleepy haze, “I can’t wait to go back again.”

Ditto, kid.

Filed Under: family time, local fun, travel ·

Jun 19, 2013

Planning Summer Fun & A Cedar Point Giveaway!

By Christina ·

How’s your summer going so far? Summer camp started for us this week (for real this time!), so the kids are now occupied during the week while I work in peace at home. Aaron has started his new job as well, and so far after day two it’s still going very well.

We’re already planning out what we’d like to do with our weekends for the next two and a half months. I’ll be traveling to Chicago for BlogHer in July, Aaron has some superhero appearances for charity, and we have a 5K this coming weekend. That still leaves several weekends open for us.

The topic of Cedar Point and Lake Erie has come up several times in our discussions. We were thrilled to attend an early-season event at Cedar Point in May, where we discovered Mira was finally tall enough to ride the big rides, including her first upside-down coaster. The entire family loves Cedar Point – even Cordy, who is terrified of roller coasters, can still name several rides that she adores in Camp Snoopy.

It’s nearly impossible to see and do it all in a single day, so when Mira asks, “When can we go back to Cedar Point?” it’s fair to consider going back again this summer, if only to seek out the things we didn’t have time for in May, and maybe return to a few favorite attractions as well.

Beyond all of the “usual” (if you can call anything at Cedar Point usual) fun, they have some additional events planned for the Fourth of July weekend. There will be an all-you-can-eat Picnic at the Point all weekend long, July 4-7, from 4-6 p.m. on each day. One price will provide all of the fried chicken, hot dogs, brats, potato salad, and baked beans you can eat – but make sure to leave room for ice cream, too! Sounds even better than our extended-family get-together for the Fourth. Maybe we should move our family celebration to Cedar Point instead?

And of course there has to be fireworks, right? On July 4, the nighttime sky will light up with a fantastic fireworks display starting at 10:30pm.

The holiday isn’t just about the food and fireworks, though. Cedar Point also wants to show our military men and women their appreciation for all they’ve done for us as well. Any active, retired or honorably-discharged member of the United States Armed Forces can receive one FREE regular admission ticket to Cedar Point or Soak City on either Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, July 4-7, 2013.

Valid forms of ID include Active Duty ID, Retired Personnel ID, VA ID, or a copy of DD-214 discharge papers and photo ID. Additional tickets can be purchased for spouse and children at normal military discount price of $39.99.

Giveaway!

Ready to try out the GateKeeper or one of the other amazing Cedar Point roller coasters for yourself?

I’m going to help get your summer started off right by giving away a family four pack of Cedar Point single-day tickets for one lucky reader!

For those who may not know, Cedar Point is in Sandusky, Ohio, right on Lake Erie. (I’ve heard you can see Canada from the top of the Millennium Force on a clear day.) It’s a great day trip for those in the Ohio-Michigan-N. Indiana areas, but even if you’re not in those areas, it can be a fun mini-vacation as well. There’s so much to do in and around Cedar Point that you could easily fill up 2-3 days.

To enter, complete the mandatory entry in the Rafflecopter widget below. (You may need to wait a moment for it to load.) Additional entries can be earned by completing the other activities, but they are entirely optional.

I’ll select a winner after June 26, giving you plenty of time to use your tickets before summer is over. Winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond or an alternate winner will be selected. Tickets are good anytime during the 2013 Cedar Point operating season – check their website for days and hours of operation.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full disclosure: Giveaway prize is provided by Cedar Point. No compensation was received for this post – my family genuinely loves Cedar Point and I was the one asking Cedar Point if I could help share the love.

Filed Under: family time, giveaways · Tagged: cedar point, holidays, summer, vacation

Apr 8, 2013

The Secret to Spring Break: Candy and Cardboard

By Christina ·

Whew! Last week was a little rough on me. Every year I say that I’m going to plan something fun and structured to do when the kids are out of school for spring break, and every year the time comes and I’ve got nothing planned.

That week off of school is always a wild time for us. Cordy thrives on schedule and routine, and even if I did put a routine in place for the week, it wouldn’t be enough since it wouldn’t be the same routine she’s used to with school. So she’s generally either cranky and super-sensitive, or she’s zoned out playing games on the computer. (Which I allow more than usual, because it keeps her calm.)

Mira, on the other hand, wants nothing more than someone to play with her. I sometimes laugh (so I don’t cry) at how we had two daughters who could be such opposites: Mira wants companionship and begs Cordy to play with her, while Cordy wants nothing more than to be left alone and not bothered by her little sister. Whether they are playing together or not playing together, someone is always unhappy.

You can see how this scene plays out over a week of being home from school. However, I’m becoming a very good mediator, so I guess there’s some good to come out of it.

I decided (thanks to a coworker’s brilliant suggestion) to let them eat ALL of their Easter candy on Monday. Yes, all of it. I even threw in some leftover Halloween candy, too. They were also given unlimited TV and computer time. In exchange for this, they were agreeing to let me work with as few interruptions as possible, and to not fight with each other.

I’m somewhat stunned to report that it worked rather well. You’d think two kids with that much sugar running through their bloodstreams would be difficult to handle, but they were surprisingly pleasant and the day went better than expected. Bonus: nearly all of the candy is gone from the house. Double bonus: at one point Mira asked me, “It’s still OK to eat some healthy foods today, right mama? I’m tired of candy – can I have a banana?” WIN.

My mom came to the rescue on Tuesday and part of Wednesday, taking the kids to my aunt’s house so I could get more work done.

Aaron wasn’t working on Thursday, so he was primarily in charge of entertaining the kids. I did join in on a lunchtime trip to Chuck E. Cheese that day before I sent them out of the house to work in peace and quiet.

Friday was the hardest. Aaron was at work, I was home with the kids, and they had officially hit a wall with spring break. The novelty of no school had worn off and they were bored. For Cordy, this means she wants to retreat into her electronic devices as much as possible and avoid all human contact, especially contact with her sister. For Mira, being bored translates into being hungry ALL of the time and a need to bother Cordy. We were reaching Mom Annoyance Threat Level Red very quickly.

Our salvation came in the form of a UPS delivery man with a package. My new Keurig arrived (purchased to replace my dead one) and it was sent in a large box. As I pulled it out, Mira walked into the kitchen and noticed the big empty box. “Wow, that box is big!” she exclaimed. “Look! I can fit in it!”

I nodded as I was rushing to set up my new caffeine provider. I looked back at her just as a moment of inspiration crossed her mind. “Mommy? Can I have this box? It can be my spaceship!”

Her idea took flight in my own brain. “Why yes, Mira, that’s a great idea. You should go grab your markers and decorate the box so it looks like a real spaceship!”

She fell out of the box, scrambling to get her markers before I changed my mind about letting her use them. Returning to the kitchen with the whole pack, she set to work drawing stars and planets and different shapes all over the box.

Cordy even became interested and asked if she could join in. The two of them spent an hour making it look just right, while I sipped my first cup of coffee from my new Keurig. (It was a very, very happy hour for all of us.) The next hour was spent playing in the box while I worked.

I’ve never seen them work together so well and have so much fun with something as simple as a box. Why have we spent all this money on toys and games when all I needed was some cardboard?

To sum up: candy and a cardboard box were the most successful distractions of spring break. Take note, parents! Apparently the simple things in life really are the best.

Still, even with finding some success, I shed no tears in loading them onto the school bus again this morning. We all need our usual routine.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, family time, memories, Mira ·

Mira’s Cedar Point Birthday Extravaganza

Polar Vortex Cabin Fever

My BloggyCon13 and Cedar Point Whirlwind Weekend

Planning Summer Fun & A Cedar Point Giveaway!

Giveaway!

The Secret to Spring Break: Candy and Cardboard

Hi, I’m Christina!

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