Fun day at Crocker Park

Yesterday we decided to take the kids to see "Cars 2." Trapper thought maybe I should just take Jackson out by ourselves and he'd find something else to do with Braden, but I wanted us all to enjoy this day together. I knew it would have it's frustrating moments, but in the end, it's all about the memory.

Jackson was excited about the movie, but next to the movie theater were some carnival rides. To get to the theater, we had to walk past the rides. Somehow we got him to the theater without too much of a fuss, but once we were inside, he whined and complained. I reminded him that Daddy was doing something special for us by taking us to the movies. I told him he was even getting him popcorn and candy to make it super special. I told him to put a smile on his face and be happy. He was happy for about 5 minutes. In the movie, he didn't like the dark and kept asking when we could go home. Braden, on the other hand, was transfixed. He ate his popcorn and watched the movie for about 30 minutes, but then he lost focus. He and Jackson were up playing and making noise and crawling all over me. I've realized that movie theaters and little children do not mix well. The movie was cute though and they loved watching the cars go "super fast!"

After the movie, we passed the carnival again. To kids, at least from my experience, carnivals are magical places! And I couldn't just let us pass by without getting on the carousel. Besides, I didn't want to walk to the car listening to Jackson scream and cry. I'm a pushover....so I convinced Trapper to let the boys have one ride.

I couldn't help it. Especially since I knew his face would light up like this!

(Excuse the quality. We weren't expecting carnival rides, so all I had was my phone camera.)

That is a genuine smile right there! He was having so much fun going up and down on that horse.

All good things come to an end, and so did the carousel. Even though Jackson and I talked about how he was taking only one ride and that we were going to go home after, he still put up a good fight on the way to the car. I mean, how could we not want to ride the helicopters after that!? In the end, we had a really good time as a family. The fact that we spent T.I.M.E together is what counts and I'll always remember that day as being special with the boys.