Springtime Fun at Funderland!

So over the holiday weekend the niecelets and I ended up at Funderland, an adorable little amusement venue for kids located inside a beautiful tree-filled park in our town.  Funderland has nine attractions, all designed for kids ages 2 to 9-ish, so the niecelets (being 6 and 3, respectively) absolutely love going there.

Niecelet 1 is nuts about the Flying Dragon, a kiddie coaster that packs more than a few thrills.  She's not tall enough yet to ride by herself, so I happily hop on to accompany her, because frankly, the dragon coaster kicks ass.

Earlier this year, I explained to her the basic physics of roller coaster speed, and she totally gets the concept that the very back seat is the way to go -- it's easily five times as fast as the front as it gets whipped down on those little dips.  She now looks with pity at all the foolish wee ones who scramble for the first car.

Back seat, suckas!

A favorite of both of them is the Backroads Buggies (which we just call "the cars").  Someone brilliantly installed TWO steering wheels in each vehicle, a stroke of genius by a person who clearly knows kids well.

Niecelet 2 adores "the fishies," and Atomic Auntie adores the groovy 1970s-style airbrush painting on their fiberglass bodies.  A little something for everyone!

They even have a himalaya, The Wild Stagecoach.  It goes forward AND backward, and is the rockin'-est ride for the under-9 set.

Naturally, our morning wouldn't have been complete without some deliciously messy cotton candy (a huge weakness of mine, I LOVE the stuff).  And since I'm the auntie, I can totally stuff them full of spun sugar before noon, then drop them off at home.

The rest of our morning looked like this:

This merry-go-round is actually really fast.

These darling little planes fly up and down, Dumbo-style!

Yep, they even have teacups.  I no longer ride them, ever since the time I threw up in a Funderland garbage can after too much spinning.  Sad but true.



The best thing about Funderland is that it's not a huge commitment time-wise.  There are only 9 rides, and even if you go on some of them more than once, you're still in and out within 2 hours, including potty breaks.  Which leaves plenty of time for a yummy lunch at Mel's Diner afterward.

Hamburgers, chicken strips, fries and balloons.  Yum!

All in all, a pretty perfect weekend day with my two favorite people in the world.  They're growing up so fast, and I really wish they'd quit it.  I already dread the day when this is all I'll see of them -- and I know it's coming sooner than I think: