One Hot Baby: Carner

A few weeks ago, there was a carnival set up near Jeff's work that Cohen passed in the car every morning and every evening. Jeff said that no matter how many times he passed it, Cohen was just as excited as the first time he saw it. Although they set up the carnival early in the week, the actual event did not start until the weekend so Cohen didn't get to enjoy the "carner" that he had become obsessed with. However, ever since then, he can spot a "carner" from a mile away and his ears are trained to hear the word "carner" even in the softest whisper! So for his first carner trip, we decided to take him to THE carner of all carners (or what I like to call a "glorified carnival")!

For those of my blog readers who don't know, Camden Park is a local "amusement park" that has been operating since 1903. (After our trip there, I think that some of the rides have also been operating that long!) Since it is located near Huntington and Jeff and I grew up near Charleston, going to Camden Park seemed like a big trip! Jeff and I both laughed at how fast we made it around a park that seemed like the biggest place ever when we were growing up! I tried not to think about how run down and rickety all the rides are and instead focus on how fun it is that Cohen was loving some of the same rides that I loved when I was his age.

We decided to make our first "big trip" to Camden Park on the 4th of July. Jeff and I were so happy when we realized that we had no plans for the 4th of July this year. While there is nothing we love better than spending time with our family and friends, living an hour away from everyone means a lot of traveling for every holiday. So we were just happy to have the opportunity to relax and do as little driving as possible. Due to Cohen's fear of thunder, we were pretty sure that our 4th of July plans wouldn't include fireworks but we wanted to make sure that our little man still got to have a very fun day. Here's some pictures from Cohen's first trip to Camden Park - I thought it would be fun to include the flashback pictures of mommy and daddy at Camden Park too!

This was Cohen's first ride - he was not impressed and climbed out of the boat as soon as we put him in. Jeff and I were both thinking that we had probably just wasted $30 on admission! Cohen's parents were bigger fans of the boats back in the day!

Me and my friend Justin

Jeff and his cousin Trevor

As an experienced jeep driver, these cars were more Cohen's style - his face looks very serious and I'm pretty sure he was trying find a way to make the car go faster...Cohen likes to "go sast!"

This one I had to include as proof of their high-tech safety system - literally a rope with a hook on the side!
I think 1903 called - they said safety is for chumps!

Now, my Camden Park record is 8 rides on the Big Dipper rollercoaster that was set when I was 8 years old. Cohen shattered my record at age 2 by riding every automobile on this ride at least twice (this does not include the "motas" since he found those to be a little scary)!

He picked the "siretruck" first...

Which his dad also thought was a good choice back in the 80s!

He was very excited to be the "bus driber"

Daddy asking him if was "sure" he wanted to drive the PINK car!

Owning that pink car!!

Daddy thought this one looked a little tougher!

Daddy and Cohen scoping out the next ride

I think Cohen would have been content to stay on his favorite ride all day, but we coerced him onto the big train that rides through the park. Cohen loved his first "real" train ride, although it didn't provide quite the breeze that Jeff and I were hoping for on the 99 degree day that we picked to go to Camden Park where it felt like the pavement was melting my shoes! I couldn't talk Cohen into riding in the merry-go-round at all, but he did finally get brave enough to ride the airplanes on our second trip around the park.

Maverick

Goose

I'm glad we got so many pictures with Cohen looking so cool in his sunglasses since we lost them to a severe meltdown after two and half hours at Camden Park! I think the heat and an empty belly were Cohen's downfall - based on the amount of crying that occurred on our walk to the car and the five minutes it took to calm him down inside the car, I think he had a good time, though!

Cooling off in the car

We had plans to check out a 4th of July festival in Hurricane before we went home, but based on the Camden Park meltdown, we decided that none of us could take the heat. On the way home, we stopped at one of Cohen's favorite places - "Donalds!" His grandma and grandpa have started taking him to Donalds for lunch every Thursday, where he likes to have "chick nuggets and a mulkshake!" The particular Donalds that we stopped had has an indoor playplace which we were actually able to keep a secret from him until he was done eating.

Had to include this picture of Cohen "drinking" from the tiny Happy Meal fry box...I love french fries this much too!

Red, white and ...black eye! (He ran into a table at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's house earlier in the week.)

Because Cohen and I were looking so patriotic, I asked Jeff to stop at the Veterans' Home in Barboursville to take some pictures. Neither Jeff or Cohen was very excited about this, but since I am usually the one behind the camera in pictures of Cohen, I would just like him to know when he looks back at pictures from his childhood that his mom was around! The Veterans' Home is a very popular place to take pictures in town...it's where all the prom dates meet every year and I also see senior picture sessions there from time to time. They have a gazebo and a big fountain - Cohen can see the fountain from the car every day and always says "oooh watah" when we pass it. So between the up close look at the fountain and a tank on the property, Cohen was willing to cooperate with mommy's silly project. The fact that this was the first time we had ever actually got out and walked around a place that we pass by every day in the car I think just proves how often we are out of town/traveling. The Veterans' Home was also a patriotic place to be on the 4th of July!