Cedar Point Never Disappoints

This post sponsored by Cedar Point.

The older I get, the more things I find to fear. I suppose that's sort of what that whole wisdom with age thing is about -- as you get older, you gain an appreciation for all of the ways life can go wrong. A car accident, illness, all of the little things that you realize can happen.

The girls are so blissfully unaware of life's little risks.

That is part of why watching the Big Kid at an amusement park is such a privilege. When she boards the biggest roller coaster in the park, she's thinking about the rush of speed and the joy of being flipped upside down. While I'm thinking about how the safety mechanisms could fail, she's just plain happy.

So happy.

So completely blissed out.

There is no feeling in this world quite like the feeling of watching your kid enjoy a roller coaster. It's just as amazing as those days when you were a kid and could ride the coaster without thinking about your aching back, safety equipment, and falling to the ground. It's a different brand of thrill.

Alexis completely lacks fear when it comes to big rides, so she's all in on the thrills. We've been to Cedar Point a few times now and it has become her favorite place in all the land. She loves Top Thrill Dragster, GateKeeper, and Millennium Force. She can't get enough of Rougarou, Magnum XL, and Maverick. Basically, Cedar Point is her heaven. All of the biggest coasters are all in one place. She throws her hands in the air and smiles the entire ride.

It's pretty fantastic.

Miss Mila is going to be even more carefree. Alexis is the more cautious of the two, so I guarantee that Mila will be an even bigger coaster maniac.

I can't wait.

We were recently invited to Cedar Point for a day of fun, but this time they threw in a twist. We were able to stay at Hotel Breakers, the hotel right on the beach that is located basically in the middle of the park. After grabbing Starbucks in the lobby in the morning, we walked a few feet to the park entrance, which was really pretty great. Why get up super early and drive when you can just roll out of bed at whatever time and already be there, you know? (Hotel Breakers is newly renovated. And awesome. The weather sucked for us so we didn't get to hang out on the beach at all, but next time there will be shenanigans. For sure.) An early start means we managed to fit in more coasters.

That means we were able to fit in more chances to watch Alexis have the time of her life.

It also means we had more time for Mila to have the time of her life, albeit in a very different way.

So perfect.

2033 Is Going to Be A Year

I've done the math. I will finally have the opportunity to sleep right around the year 2033.

So that's fun.

In the meantime, I live in that world of uncertainty. Mila might sleep through the night. She might not. She slept ten straight hours in her crib the other night, but then she woke up every two hours the next night.

It's not anything I'm doing or not doing; she's just kind of a pain in the butt about sleep right now. She's the kind of pain in the butt that keeps you up even as she sleeps, because certainly she's just moments away from waking.

I am at her constant beck and call. (It's kind of fantastic.)

On a night when sleep eluded the little one who truly does love sleep, we were away from home. We declared it a girls night and gave the husband a bed to himself while Alexis, Mila, and I piled into the other bed in the cute little hotel room. Alexis picked one side of the bed, leaving me with the other. We made a Mila sandwich.

As the night went on, Mila found herself awake every few hours. It was right around 2:00 am when her awakedness spread like wildfire and a dark shadow rose from the other side of the bed. Nine years into the Parenting Alexis gig, that shadow still makes me shake in my boots. That kid. That kid STILL hasn't managed to sleep ten straight hours in her own bed. 2:00 am is prime time for a long conversation about nothing according to the kid who doesn't need sleep.

I cringed in the dark.

But, instead of plunging into a long one-sided conversation, Alexis looked around for a moment. Then, she found what she was looking for. She scooted down the bed a bit and found a way to nuzzle in around both Mila and myself. The sandwich was squished as she cuddled tightly.

I may miss sleeping hours without interruption, but some day I'm going to miss those middle of the night cuddles more.

(Right? RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME YES.) (Seriously. I really need to believe it right about now.) (Ahem.)

These Things Are Not Alike

Everyone is always telling me how much the girls look alike.

I don't see it. I see two girls who couldn't be more not alike if they spent their every waking moment trying to be not alike.

Yet, every once in a while I will glance at a baby photo hanging in the house somewhere and have to think for a moment about whether the photo is of Alexis or of Mila. So. It's there. There are definitely similarities.

I'm sure most of the not alikedness comes from the fact that the two of them DO spend their every waking moment trying to not be alike. The whole birthday smash cake thing, for example. On her fifth birthday, Alexis felt like this about everyone looking at her.

(Photo by Jayesel.)

She would have felt the exact same way on her first birthday. I have no doubt about that. Meanwhile, Mila makes this face when she has an audience.

We just spent a day at Cedar Point, which I'm sure I will write about in detail at some point, but while we were there, this happened.

Can you hear Mila laughing? Because I still can. That girl laughed and smiled so hard her face nearly cracked. If Alexis had found herself surrounded by ANYTHING living at that age, she would still be lying on the ground throwing a fit.

Genetics are so weird.