We usually get an annual "Pass of all Passes" to the Seven Peaks park system. If you watch for the right ads, you can sometimes get them for as little as $10.00 per person. There are several places you can go with them, including two large water parks which the kids love in the summer. They are also a couple of smaller-scale venues with mini-golf, go-karts, rock climbing, laser tag, etc. A few weeks ago, my brother Tyler invited us to come and play laser tag with him and his family. He is married to Laura and they have one son, Ben. I loaded Lexi, Sophi, Taylor, Parker, Xander, Jesi and Jessica's friend Maddie into the van and off we went. It was the last Saturday of Christmas break, and when we arrived, it was completely packed. I was honestly tempted to just go back home. But Tyler was there and the younger kids were excited in spite of the crowd. Fortunately, it turned out to be a lot of fun.
I think my favorite part of the experience was playing laser tag with Lexi and Sophi. Sophi wore the vest, Lexi held the gun and I guided them through the maze-like halls of the arena. It was hilarious how into it they got. I told Lex to just keep pulling the trigger and I pointed the gun. We scored hits on several people. They had a blast:)
They also had fun with mini golf. I helped Lex with each hit and she could hear the sound when the ball fell in the hole. I would help Sophi with the first stroke of each hole. Then she would keep kicking the ball until she got it into the hole. Pretty cute!
The "Frog Hopper" is one of those rides where the seats are raised 20 feet in the air and then you have a small free fall, stop, another small free fall, stop and a final small free fall. This sequence repeats two or three times. All of our kids love this ride except for Soph. When we've tried it in the past, she has screamed inconsolably through the entire ride. When we first arrived at Trafalga, I asked her if she wanted to ride it. With a very concerned look on her face she gave an adamant "No!" But after watching the other kids ride it, she changed her mind. She wanted to ride, too. I confirmed this with her several times. "Are you SURE you want to ride the frog hopper?" "Yes!" OK. Let's go. In case she freaked out, I rode next to her. Here we are ready to go: Sophi's a bit nervous. Lexi's giddy with excitement, and Ben (Sophi's cousin sitting right next to her) looks like everything's cool!
You can get an idea of just how well it went from these pics of Sophi after we got off the ride:
Yep, she screamed through the entire ride once again. Well, there's always next time!
I love these pics of Lexi holding Sophi. Those two are so cute and so close to each other.
We finished up on the rock-climbing wall. Even Lexi wanted to try. I was very impressed with her efforts!
As you can from the video: Taylor and Parker are pretty evenly matched rock climbers, Lexi is a brave little soul, Ben was much happier with the Frog Hopper than Sophi, and Sophi does have a smile in there somewhere:)
-Jeremy
