Summer started with a bang and we set out for our family vacation the Friday after school got out. We do a big Disneyland trip every other summer and this was our summer for that but with our big 10 year wedding anniversary approaching and our Hawaiian vacation to celebrate that we felt like it might be to much to try to cram a week long Disneyland in there too. Plus we are excited that my parents will be going with us this year to Disneyland and they did not want to brave the hot summer sun and all the summer crowds so we have decided to postpone that trip for the fall. We still wanted to do a family vacation in the summer so we decided on going to Great America for a long weekend. Spencer and I have spent lots of summers at Great America together. That was our go to date days back in 90's and early 2000's so it was a blast getting to go back after 10 years and experience it through the eyes of our kids. The weather was perfect, it was not that crowded and we got a gorgeous room at the Hyatt right next to the park. Since the park is close to our family out there and they had a great deal at Costco for a season pass that includes our other favorite place Gilroy Gardens we opted for that option so we hope to go back a few more times this summer.
Great America is known for it's thrill rides and that is what Spencer and I remember it for. It was exciting to get to do the whole Snoopy kid area now.
Carter is definitely our dare devil he would have gone on all the upside down rides if he was tall enough. Aubrey she is more hesitant about fast rides. We did all go on the larger kid roller coaster together but Aubrey wanted off so we got off but Carter and daddy did it a few more times. How lucky are we to get the ride to ourselves.
Aubrey did love the smaller kid roller coaster and I think rode that one over 20 times.
Carter's favorite ride for sure was the bummper cars.
Aubrey also really enjoyed the "tree" ride and rode that about a dozen times. I love how low key it was so the kids could just keep going and going.
We then did a dance party show. I thought these pictures were funny that daddy took. I really like my hair in the second one it looks so full lol!
We did a few other bigger rides in the other part of the park.
But then we ended back in Snoopy land for more kid fun.
Spencer's sister lives about 10 minutes away from the park and they have passes too so she texted us and arranged it to come into the park for lunch and some cousin fun time.
She also offered to watch the kids while Spencer and I could relive the old days and have a Great America date. The kids enjoyed their dippin' dot treat.
While we went and rode our favorite Top Gun or I guess now they call it Flight Deck ride.
It's the one with no bottom and you go upside down. It was fun but as it was going up I thought why am I doing this I have kids!! I didn't want to die lol. We made it through and it was definitely accelerating to say the least.
We had a great first day in the park. We then went back to the hotel for swimming then out to dinner and a movie in bed. We did get to watch the firework show that night from our room.
Day 2 we debating on going to Gilroy Gardens but decided not to do the 40 minute drive and to stay local and do more Great America that day. We hadn't even explored the water park yet and we thought we could do Gilroy Gardens on a day trip down the road.
Before doing the water park we did a few more rides that we missed the day before.
The kids got to play some carnival games and win some prizes.
Then we went to an amazing Aerial ice extreme show.
It was amazing!!!!!
they did so many flips and tricks while ice skating we were all amazed!!
Then it was time for the water park. We didn't plan that well and had all our valuables with us (camera/phone) so I got to lay out in the sun watching all our stuff while the kids and dad played. It was actually a perfect set up I really enjoyed my relaxing time and people watching and I think the 3 of them had a blast playing together. Until the time that just Daddy and Aubrey come walking up to me with scared faces saying they lost Carter. Carter was missing for about 5 long minutes! Surprisingly I didn't freak out and just grabbed all the stuff and went on a man hunt. Sure enough daddy found him right as I was describing him to one of the workers. Scary!!!!! We then made a meeting spot and continued with the fun.
After our long day in the park we headed out for a yummy dinner at El Torritos and then another relaxing movie night at the hotel.
Our last day of vacation we decided to make it a pool day and spent a good part of the early day playing and laying out by the pool.
Then we packed up and headed to Ikea so I could get the chair I really wanted for our living room. I was so excited!!!
We then decided it would be fun to see a movie since it was a pretty hot day.
We fished our vacation with a yummy dinner at the Sushi Boat. The kids loved grabbing the sushi off the boats that went around the table.
It was a great vacation!! I sure love my family and spending every minute I can with them. We are so excited for all our fun summer adventures that lie ahead!
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