Riding in Circles

It hasn't been all day care and preschool drama around here. We've made time for fun too! A few weeks ago, we met some friends at the Mall of America to check out the rides at Nickelodeon Universe. Fiona had been there once - a long time ago, but this was a first for Quinn and Declan.

Their friend Max was a pro at the rides, so the girls happily followed his lead (and he was so proud to be the leader) on which rides were the "cool" ones. Fiona rode everything and shrieked and shrilled with glee. That girl emotes when she is happy. Fiona and Mike even rode the kiddie roller coaster and she immediately was campaigning to go on the big one. She didn't ... this trip.

Quinn rode a few and was pretty stone-faced on them. She had fun, but she wasn't going to give those rides a smile just because. You have to earn those smiles. Unless you are a cheerleader! It helped that Max's little sister is exactly Q's age, so she and Claire could tag along together and be brave as a team.

Poor Declan didn't get to go on many rides. So we made sure that the last ride of the day was the Merry-Go-Round. We found a row of three that all went up and down. All three kids had a great time and it was a lovely way to end our first real trip to the amusement park. It was also good practice, as I'm sure some day, we'll break down and get a family membership to ValleyFair. [Teenage Mike and Sara can't believe we live this close to our childhood paradise and haven't gotten a summer pass yet!]