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Today was family fun day.  Whoohoo! 

We originally had plans to do some shopping and see Toy Story 3 ( I don't know who's more excited...the kids or us) but I found a coupon yesterday for a GREAT rate to go to Idlewild so I called Greg and we decided to take advantage and changed our plans.

We went for the first time last year, but Fionn was too small still to ride most of the rides, and it rained off and on (torrential downpours)
the entire time we were there, so there was still plenty of NEW things for us to do this year!
(here are a few scenes from last year...maggie was NOT happy about the rain and the cold)

I looked at the website last night, and checked out all there was to do in Jumpin Jungle since we only were in there a few minutes last year.  The pictures on the website looked like everything would be fun for Fionn, the kids were scampering right up that big net with smiles on their faces so I was confident he would LOVE it...

We went through Storybook forest, then headed in.  Wouldn't you know, first thing they wanted to do...climb the net.  No problem I thought as Greg stayed with Cate down (he had her in the carrier)below and I headed up with Maggie and Fionn.

My confidence was bolstered even more by this family just above us on the net. They had a little girl who looked to be about Fionn's size and she also SCAMPERED right up the net...

Here we were still doing good...all though I was starting to question the wearing of flip flops to climb the net as my feet were starting to slide out of them as we were starting to go up...Fionn hadn't quite grasped the concept of climbing up the net yet, so we watched as sissy SCAMPERED on  up the thing in front of us(with not so much as a look back either)

Yep right about here is where I knew we were going to be in trouble! Fionn decided that he didn't want to figure out the whole climbing thing, so now it was momma climb, boost Fionn, tell him to hold on, repeat...and the shoes were making it REALLY difficult at this point...

And here...holy cow, I was just trying to save us from falling DOWN the net. Fionn had decided that he wanted me to CARRY HIM at this point in the climb and he kept letting go of the net and reaching for me. I was trying to haul my own fat butt up this thing and my shoes and Fionn. Maggie meanwhile made it to the top, flipped herself OVER the edge of the thing and we doing her happy dance at the top, oblivious to the fact that for me, this was becoming a perilous journey!  I mean really, what kind of mom would I be if either one of us fell down this dumb net, a net that small children SCAMPER up!  I had to keep going up, even though we had yet to reach the hardest part.

You will notice a nice GAP in time here, because a)my husband either noticed that we were in real danger of falling off the stupid net or b) was doing something with Cate.

We're going to say it was A, because, seriously ya'll...I was a sweating fool on this net and was only about 80% sure we were going to survive it.  So he HAD to have noticed and was trying to formulate a plan to save us from imminent danger...OR he was just laughing and thanking his lucky stars that MOMMY took them up it.

I was pretty sure at THIS moment I thought tonight's headline would read:  "We're following a breaking story out of Idlewild tonight"... "2 year old boy and his mother fell backwards down the climbing net in jumping jungle...why they couldn't SCAMPER up it is unknown at this time."

Notice my stance...I was holding myself up, and climbing UP mind you, all the while balancing Fionn on my thighs AND the net. I finally got Mag's attention and we pushed/pulled him over the edge of the net. (at that point I felt like just letting go, and falling back DOWN the net rather than trying to haul my big butt OVER the top)

WE'RE ALIVE, we made it...whoooohoooooo!

I'm pretty sure by this point that my legs were visibly shaking...it was NOT pretty. But look at Fionn, look at that proud look on his face...even though I needed to stand for a few minutes to calm my heart rate back down at the top of net, it was all worth it.  The boy was happy.

UP NEXT: the ballpit

note to future Ginger...your children WILL bury you in anything...be it hay, snow, sand, AND balls (let the daddy take them in)

In all seriousness, we had a BLAST at Idlewild, and still didn't do everything there is to do.  After this we headed to the Soakzone,where we spend the rest of the afternoon until it closed...even Cate got in the pool...but that is a story for another day!