Tyler's 6th Birthday and Silverwood Trip

For Tyler's birthday we decided to take a weekend trip to Silverwood in lieu of a birthday party. His actual birthday was on a Tuesday, though, so we still tried to make it fun for him. He woke up and came downstairs to a lemon german pancake breakfast and several gifts, including a cute pop-up tent.

Tyler had really enjoyed the salt lamps at Granny and Grandpa's house during our last Utah visit, so they ordered two of them for his birthday.

Tyler still went to school and swim lessons, but after that we took him out for dinner at Olive Garden, his favorite restaurant. He really likes dipping their breadsticks in soup. They sang to him and gave him a free piece of chocolate lasagna cake.

We tried to eat just a few bites of that cake since we had more cake at home. Tyler had requested a lemon mint cake, which I knew wouldn't work, so I made a regular lemon jello cake and gave him a side of chocolate mint frosting. We sang to him and ate a bit of cake and ice cream before Tyler went to bed in his tent.

Allison's singing is so cute in this video! I wish I could cut my voice out so she could be heard better. 

Later that week we attended the Kindergarten showcase at Tyler's school. The kids sang in the auditorium then we went back to their classes so they could show us what they've been working on this year. Tyler said "when I grow up I want to be a gamemaker." I'd thought it was all going to be in the auditorium, so I'd brought Allison's Kindle and headphones to prevent her from running around and disrupting the show. Unfortunately it only entertained her for 5 minutes. Once we were in the classroom she just wanted to play and run around.

After it was over I took Allison over to the nearby Paine Field park to burn some of that energy.

On Saturday morning we started our drive to Silverwood. We stopped at a McDonald's in Moses Lake for lunch then drove near the town of Tyler, which Tyler was delighted about.

We went to our hotel, but the room still had a few minutes before it was ready, so Oscar let Allison slide down the car.

Once we were all unloaded we drove up to Silverwood. We started off riding the Carousel, the Log Flume, and Thunder Canyon. We'd missed out on Thunder Canyon the previous trip, so we definitely wanted to do it even if it wasn't the best weather for it. I made sure to bring extra clothes in case we got soaked, which we did. Allison was super excited about it since Blippi talks about it in his Silverwood video, but then she didn't like the big splashes. She's definitely developed more fear of rides than she had last year or at the themeparks on our California trips.

From there we saw their incredible magic show and got free leftover pizza! We'd also missed the magic show on our last trip, so it was top priority this time. We changed the kids out of their wet clothes and found a seat to watch the show while Oscar stood in line to get pizza. He got us an individual meal deal since the family meal deal was far more pizza than our little family can eat. The group next to us had lots of extra pizza though, which they offered to us when they left. We had a mini fridge in our hotel so it fed us for a few days and some of it even came home with us.

Allison met the magician and his wife/assistant, but it was only because she wanted to play in the laboratory. The magic was completely lost on her, but she enjoyed the noise, lights, and excitement.

I took both kids on the Tilt-a-Whirl while Oscar took the extra pizza and wet clothes back to the car, then he and Tyler went off to do the two roller coasters Tyler can do while I took Allison on some rides. The rain started coming down while we were waiting for the butterfly swing, but it wasn't too bad and it cleared up after about 20 minutes. Allison made some new friends who rode with her on the Kiddie Wheel, the Butterfly Swing, and the Frog Hopper.

Allison wanted to play in the treehouse play area, which kept her entertained for a good long time before she asked to go on Barnstormer. We'd just sat down on it when Oscar and Tyler met back up with us. Tyler came on the ride too then I left the kids with Oscar while I had less than 20 minutes to ride Panic Plunge, Aftershock, and Timber Terror. Fortunately I was able to pull it off since there were no lines left at that point. The earlier rain had completely cleared them out. 

Oscar took the kids on the Ferris Wheel before all the rides closed at 8:00pm. They keep their shops open 30 minutes later than the rides, and Tyler was begging for ice cream, so we got a big 5 scoop deal at the Ice Creamery. For a themepark their prices are incredibly reasonable, and everything we've had has been really tasty.

The next morning Allison wasn't feeling too well and felt a bit hot. We figured we'd better not take her to church. Oscar and Tyler went to an 8:30am church service while Allison fell back to sleep. The chapel was a 5 minute walk away, so I swapped off with them and went to an 11:30am service. Allison seemed a lot better when she woke up. She wanted to eat breakfast and go swimming at the hotel pool. She ate really well and seemed cheerful, but later that day started feeling hot again, so we picked her up some Children's Tylenol. Once she was on that she was her usual energetic self, so we drove downtown and took a tour of the area near the lake. There's a lot to see and do. We spent about 3 hours there. Our first stop was at the Fort Sherman playground.

Allison kept asking to see the lake so we wandered down there. I hadn't realized it'd be so sandy or I would have brought their sandals/watershoes. I took her shoes off so she could dip her toes in the (freezing) lake, but Tyler completely soaked his sneakers. If you zoom in on the picture you can see him down by the shoreline playing in the sand.

There are 5 Mudgy the Moose statues to go along with a book written by a local author about Mudgy and Millie's adventures playing Hide and Seek in Coeur D'Alene.

From there we wandered over to City Park, which has another great playground. 

This is the first time I've seen Tyler trying this zipline type thing. He falls and cries at the end of this video, but he got right back up and did it over and over again.

Oscar amused Allison while she was swinging

There was also a very cool splash park. It was cloudy and in the low 60's, but Tyler couldn't resist it. He even took his shirt off at one point since he said he was done, then went right back to playing. Allison joined him later on, though she didn't let herself get very wet. She stayed relatively dry until the very end when she decided to run under the arch. Luckily I always have a spare set of clothes for her in case she has an accident, and I had Tyler's jacket and a pair of long pants in the car. He didn't have extra underwear or a shirt, but at least we got him home warm.

Fountains of water from the ground shot up at the tail end of our time here. We couldn't figure out if there was a way to activate them intentionally. Maybe it just happens at the top of the hour or something like that.

We saw the last two Mudgie and Millie statues before grabbing dinner and heading back to the hotel.

On Memorial Day Oscar went for a run while I took the kids down for breakfast and a swim. 

And we went to Silverwood again when it opened at 11:00am. Oscar took Allison on the carousel twice and the flying elephants while I took Tyler on Tremors. Our line wasn't bad at all. We even got to ride in the front seat.

From there I took both kids on the paratrooper while Oscar did Aftershock and Corkscrew. The line for paratrooper is really slow since only one vehicle can load and unload at a time, which gave Oscar plenty of time to do two roller coasters. Then I did Bumper Boats with Ty, which Allison didn't want to do after loving them last year) while Oscar took Allison on the planes and the puppy go round. We caught up with them in time for Tyler to play in the tree top play area for a bit while I snapped this picture of Oscar and Allison on the puppy go round.

We barely caught the 2pm train ride but somehow managed to claim a decent spot for viewing the train robbery show. Tyler was asking for ice cream again, but the line was LONG, so I took the kids on rides while Oscar waited in it.

They even got to meet Garfield!

After our ice cream we made our long drive home but stopped at the Spokane Temple for a little family home evening and at the Ellensburg IHOP for dinner. I made the mistake of ordering the kids' meals first before I'd decided what I wanted. They were done and restless after about 5 minutes.

After we got back we squeezed in a little bit more fun just before the month ended. I volunteered to help out with Tyler's class's field trip to the farm and took Allison down to Wild Waves for some waterpark fun.