Idlewild Park

While we were still in Pennsylvania on the 30th of June, we did one of the most fun things we've ever done with Maura. We took her to Idlewild Park. It's a little theme park not far from my grandparents house that we visited at least once a year while I was growing up. I LOVE Idlewild. I have so many memories from it. It's a really nostalgic little park, not a thrill park. We used to come here on school field trips and during the summers, we would come here with my Grandma Carnes. I loved getting to see it all through my little girl's eyes.

One of my favorite parts of the park is Storybook forest. You enter through this giant book and get to see all the stories brought to life. We got there early when Storybook forest opened to spend lots of time there.
I loved this sign. It's how I feel about a lot of things that I do with Maura. I love passing down the things I learned as a child to her.
This is probably the best smile I've gotten for a photo from her ever. She loved sitting at the desks just her size.

I loved visiting the park with my parents. This photo was too precious! Maura enjoyed showing off for her grandparents.
Grammy, Maura and Raggety Ann. Maura would NOT sit up there by herself. She's tremendously distrustful of anyone who wears a costume. I guess she has good reason--if you look at it from a two-year-old's point of view, why would a grown up dress up?
Pappap Raggety Andy and Grammy Raggetty Ann
Mommy Raggety Andy and Maura Raggety Ann.
Brent really enjoyed the park too. We were so glad to have such a fun family time together before he had to head to Georgia.

Mommy and Maura on the Good Ship Lollipop. I would like to talk to the genius who put the ship at the beginning of the tour and gave all the kids sticky lollipops to carry around with them through the remainder of the forest! Yuck!
Tristan was such a good boy and just loved looking at the leaves overhead. It was a nice cool day, perfect for a trip to the park.
Maura loved the "Little Engine that Could" section. She should--I've read that book at least a hundred times!
A daddy and his girl. You should have seen Brent squeezing himself into that train.
My cousin Bryan, Aunt Nancy and my mom. We all enjoyed the day so much.

Pappap took over stroller duty so that Brent and I were able to go into all the houses and experience it with Maura. Tristan was loving looking at all the trees.
Brent and Maura tried hard to pull Excaliber from the rock, but alas, were unsuccessful.
Maura met the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe. In a strange twist of fate, the "Old Woman" is a friend of my aunt's and lives in Ligoneer Pennsylvania. Who knew?
Maura meeting Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater. What a terrible husband he was, keeping his wife in this cement Pumpkin shell! Only one of the Three Pigs was interested in meeting Maura. She was fascinated, so we stood and smelled the pigs for about fifteen minutes while she got acquainted.

Henny Penny, the chicken pecked Maura's finger. I warned her that it would happen if she stuck her finger in, but she did it anyway. Luckily, Maura was only stunned, not actually hurt.
Grammy and Maura took a break beside Jack Be Nimble.
Ugg, so glad I'm on a diet! We got to meet King Cole and the fiddlers.
Daddy, Maura and Mommy enjoying the huge blocks.
Tristan and Maura loved just chillin in their stroller. Tristan was asleep for the entire morning. He just had too much to look at to take a nap. He was really good, though and just enjoyed strolling around the park. Maura was really good and really quiet, which should have been an indication that something was wrong. I realized she had strep the next day.

After lunch, we headed over to Kiddie Land. Then, the skies opened and it started to pour. We took refuge in the fake gas station in front of the car ride. Thankfully, the shower didn't last too long and we were able to go again.
My cousin Bryan, Maura and I waiting for Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers is actually from Latrobe, the town where my grandparents live. The show was filmed in Pittsburgh, so there's a lot of ties to the area. My cousin was a huge Mr. Rogers fan as a child, so he answered every question on the ride!
Tristan enjoyed the ride and the "Hug and Song" party at the end. They don't make wholesome entertainment like Mr. Rogers anymore! Can you see King Friday and Queen Sara in the background?
I really enjoyed actually getting to ride the ride! It was one of the only ones I got to ride. Everything else was kiddie sized!
We bought Maura a poncho and it was time to go. She was the only kid on this ride because of the rain. We were able to ride a lot of rides twice because there was no one waiting in line. Although the rain was a pain, it made for a great day at the park.

Maura loved the old fashioned cars. I know she thought she was driving!
We had a little poncho incident on the planes. As soon as the ride started, the poncho blew down over her face. Now, you'd think that she'd just pull it back up. NO, she just rode the whole ride like that!
All I could think of the whole time was that she was going to suffocate in the thing. I could tell she was OK, but it still scared me.
Sweet girl was really getting tired by this point, but she actually figured out how to make the dragon go up and down.
Last ride of the day. She was high on the hog! She thought she was steering this motorcycle. She was so exhausted by the day. It was WAY past nap time by the time we left and she immediately fell asleep in the car. We carried her in and she napped for about an hour until we woke her up for dinner. She was a grouch and I put her in the bath as soon as possible. She actually cried when I got her out and said, "I want to go to bed." Poor sweet thing, we didn't know she was sick! She's feeling much better now, thanks to a course of the pink stuff. I loved sharing one of my favorite childhood memories with my baby girl. It's so cool to do it all over again with them.