Saturday, November 19, 2011

Kiddie Acres is the place to be

In the northern reaches of Austin is an old, slightly creepy, miniature amusement park: Kiddie Acres.  It includes 7 attractions and JJ gave them all a try.  Some of the rides he tackled all by himself while we nervously watched.  He did great!  Turns out he loves going around in circles in various types of vehicles.

We started off with a carousel ride.


Next up was the ferris wheel.  He enjoyed this for a minute or two ("up high!"), then started getting freaked out ("all done, all done").

 Then we took a ride on the train.  JJ is pretty much a veteran train passenger at this point.

 Then came the part where he went around in circles on a boat, a car, and an airplane.  The airplane looked to be the most thrilling ride.  JJ did great flying solo.









And finally, a pony ride!  JJ's first time on a horse.  He kept saying it was a cow, though.




Mexican food for dinner after our afternoon of play.  JJ loved eating chips and guacamole.  Where did this guac gene come from?!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Chuck E. Cheese

Last weekend JJ had his first trip to the place where a kid can be a kid.  Yes, Chuck E. Cheese.  Daddo talked it up all Saturday morning so that by the time we were ready to go, JJ was excitedly saying "ChuckECheese!" even though he had no idea what kind of place it would be.


We ate some mediocre pizza, armed ourselves with tokens, and sought out all the games and rides that were suitable for JJ.  And one that wasn't, apparently, because this rising airplane scared the cheese out of him.



His favorite thing, which he literally rode on about 6 times, was this yellow truck.  When you feed it a token, it vibrates and shakes a little.  JJ had a look on his face like he wasn't particularly enjoying it but he kept asking to ride it again!






The other highlight of the experience was collecting the tickets from the machines.  At the end, we had 70 tickets and redeemed them for some sweet merch: a crazy straw and 3 temporary tattoos.  (JJ would later proudly sport a Chuck E. Cheese tat on his bicep.)


We have some leftover tokens so we'll need to return for more fun sometime soon!