Once Upon A Time...

Once Upon A Time..., originally uploaded by reasonenoughtocelebrate.

Today, we took the babies & Quinton up to Idewild Park in Ligonier, PA.

The past couple times I've gone to Idewild, I've gone with La's family - which has been a blast. But we were older. It was fun... but not AS fun as it used to be. The park is showing it's age; its a tad rundown. It's definitely not an amusement park for adults or college kids looking to score some excitement.

You know, it's been a really long time since I've seen Idewild the way I USED to see Idewild... through the eyes of children.But that changed today, that's for sure.

I've also never gone before with children I love as much as I would my own. But going there with Gage, Laken, Liam & Quinton... I don't need to tell you again just how much I love those boys.

But because of them, suddenly Idewild was the same, amazing, magical place filled with all the excitement and fantasy that I fell in love with there when I was a kid. Entering the big fairytale book which leads to Story Book Forest - and being greeted by Mother Goose - had never seemed as wonderful as it did today when I saw the faces of Gage and Laken, soaking it all in. They really believed they were meeting THE Mother Goose. And that excitement continued the whole way through the forest - fairytale after fairytale coming to life. You hardly even notice the seemingly-disgruntled college-aged employees, tired after a long summer of playing make-believe in old costumes during humid days. Because thats not what the kids saw.

What they really saw was THE Snow White.
THE Old Woman Who Lived in Her Shoe.
THE Little Red Riding Hood.

And to watch Quinton on the rides - to see how scared he was of the roller coaster, the way I was once scared. How he held onto me so tight, begging me to save him. To see how much he loved just going around in circles on a fake hot air balloon ride... really just made me sit back and think how amazing it is to be a kid.

I really hope they never have to grow up.