Posts Tagged ‘lake compounce’

My Week(343) in iPhone Photos

Tuesday, May 30th, 2017

We have less than 2 weeks left until Disney World and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to hold off telling the kids for much longer. I’m so bad at surprises.

Sunday:

Really excited to be at Lake Compounce

Evan’s face before we went on the roller coaster. His after face was not happy.

Caroline’s face all day

Monday:

Once Finn is walking these two are going to be double trouble

Evening yoga

Tuesday:

Are you sure this is breakfast? Why is it on the floor?

Couch naps

My favorite child

Wednesday:

You can see our rainbow umbrella is his eyes

Skeptical of the art show

Art show snacks

Thursday:

I gave him nutella, it was a mistake

Now he’s trying to eat his siblings

Peace Out

Friday:

How I feel about getting changed in front of people too

They REALLY love yoga

Saturday:

Took our cousin to the beach

And to the splash pad

 

And taught him yoga

I don’t know why I’m missing so many photos from this week. I THOUGHT I took lots. I’ll try to do better this week, although so far today I’ve taken zero and it’s 2 pm. But that’s because I’ve been listening to podcasts on my phone while I try to get the entire house cleaned and organized and back to the almost-always-ready-for-company level of tidy that I had achieved at the beginning of the year.

In other news, do you follow my 365 project on Facebook or Instagram yet? I figured I should put those photos someplace where people can see them, since my photography is my main claim to blogging fame (very very very tiny amounts of blogging fame) these days.

Lake Compounce 2017

Thursday, May 25th, 2017

Lake Compounce provided us with free tickets to visit this month, but all opinions, statements, and photos are my own.

Here is the Top 10 List of reasons we had a great time at Lake Compounce:

  1. Right in the middle of Connecticut, so it’s close to us and lots of other places.
  2. Tons of rides in the kid section that everyone over age 2 could ride without grown-ups.
  3. Super fun scary roller coasters for the grown-ups.
  4. Wicked friendly employees.
  5. Lots of shade and places to sit down when you’re tired.
  6. Free fountain drinks all over the park so no one ever complained they were thirsty.
  7. Stroller-friendly.
  8. Nursing-friendly.
  9. Parent-friendly (My husband changed all the diapers all day, because the men’s room had changing tables.)
  10. Just the right size to spend the whole day.

E and I took Evan to Lake Compounce several years ago, back when he was Baby Evan, and had a great time then too. But I had a very tiny Baby Caroline and didn’t get to ride very many things myself, so I mostly remember just the toddler area. Since then, they’ve done a bunch of renovations, added new coasters and spruced things up so even though it’s the oldest amusement park in the country it’s beautiful and clean. Don’t worry, about the nostalgia though, because it’s still got plenty of that.

We got there at 11 am on a Sunday and the kids walked on to every ride until at least 1 pm. They’re the only ones on those drums!

The only photo of me from the day: Caroline LOVED this thing and was super mad she couldn’t go on the grown-up version.

We got free soda while we waited for E to ride Phobia. It took me several more hours to decide if I was also going to ride Phobia. I did. It was fun.

Praise hands for this Joovy stroller we still love. Finn was happy riding/sleeping/chilling in it all day, between rides in the Tula so I could nurse.

After Evan suddenly, drastically changed his mind about roller coasters (Saturday: “I WANT TO RIDE THEM ALL!” Sunday: Won’t even get on the kid-sized coaster Linc rode with his arms up) I wasn’t sure he would try any of the rides. But he loved the log flume.

Evan also loved the Ghost Hunt ride, probably because he likes shooting games. I did not partake, because haunted houses are not my thing. Caroline and Linc both rode, because they take after their father.

That is possibly the best picture I’ve ever taken.

I don’t remember the dinosaurs from the last time we visited, but the kids loved it.

Caroline clearly didn’t enjoy herself at all.

Despite Evan’s skeptical face, we rode Thunder Rapids twice in a row and got SOAKED. It was great.

The lake/waterpark opens this weekend. I promised the kids we could come back for it later this summer.

I bought extra clothes JUST IN CASE they got wet, which is why they’re in different clothes than the beginning of the day.

Goodbye Lake Compounce! See you again soon!

If you’re in the New England area, I would definitely recommend making the trip to Bristol to have your own super fun day. You can use this link/code to get a discount on your internet tickets:

Link: https://www.lakecompounce.com/blogreader?promocode=BeBehSBlog17

Promocode: BeBehSBlog17

Thank you again to Lake Compounce for providing us with the tickets (p.s. kids under 3 are free)!

Lake Compounce – Win A Family 4-Pack of Tickets!

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

By some incredible stroke of good luck, a PR company working with Lake Compounce – the oldest amusement park in America! It’s historic! And full of charm! And quaint…itude! – found my blog and offered me 4 tickets to take the family and go check it out. Since kids 3 and under are free, I invited along Little Evan’s two best friends (and their mamas). I even talked E into taking a day off of work so we could avoid the weekend crowd – a very wise choice, because we had a GREAT time.

And if you live within a couple hours of Bristol, Connecticut, you’ll want to scroll to the end of this post so you can enter to win your own tickets!

It's all cute and old fashioned, but in the REAL way, not the Disneyfied way

You’ll have to excuse the terrible and/or highly edited photos. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of carrying stuff around all day so I brought the pocket-sized point and shoot instead of the Nikon. Also, the battery died half way through the day. And I was too busy having fun too care.

Caterpillar train was a HUGE hit

These were drums that went up and down. Another hit.

Swings! Do you see how my kid is the ONLY KID on them? It was awesome.

I was really doubtful that there would be much a 2 year old would enjoy at an amusement park. Maybe the Ferris Wheel (which, actually, was closed) and the trolley and some splashing in the water park (but with temps only in the upper 70’s we skipped getting wet). But the kid section was FULL of cool rides for small people and Little Evan was the bravest little daredevil ever. He even rode the kid-sized roller coaster with E with his hands up! I almost cried watching my kid ride rides by himself – who said he was allowed to be that grown up?! Why is this permitted? Isn’t someone going to yell at me for putting a baby on the motorcycle ride?!

Friend Tristan on the carousel in the kid's section

Riding the kid's carousel with Caroline. It was so nice to be able to do things even with a baby!

Friend Amelia choose a bunny instead of a horse

The weather was a little questionable – although after the 100+ days we’ve been having, a high of 78 with the occasional sprinkle felt FANTASTIC – so the park was not even a little bit crowded. We never waited in a single line and the kids were allowed to ride multiple times in a row without getting off.

I think the two most surprising things were that the park was super clean (despite the paper cups at all the free – FREE! – Pepsi fountains, I never saw a single one on the ground) and that the employees were crazy nice. Brainwashed levels of nice. DISNEY NICE. Where Lake Compounce found all those pleasant, polite, toddler-loving teenagers I have no idea, but I can’t even tell you how much nicer it made our day. They were helpful and patient and smiley and didn’t roll their eyes when we dragged a stroller onto the trolley (“Sir, you can put that up here by me in the front, there’s a lot more room”) or when I brought the baby onto the grown-up sized carousel (“Just hold on, it goes kind of fast!”).  Maybe management puts Prozac in the free soda or something.

Splash Harbor and the actual Lake. It would be worth going back just to do the water park side.

Reasonably priced (about $7) lunch. The free soda (and water) made it seem extra reasonable.

There were also a LOT of places to sit down. Benches, stone walls, chairs, tables, loungers. I had no problem finding a quiet spot to nurse Caroline (three separate times) and never got a single LOOK for doing it.  BTW, she was a doll the whole day, taking an afternoon nap in the stroller that gave E and I a chance to take turns on a few of the grown-up roller coasters. I would HIGHLY recommend The Revolution, even for non-roller coaster lovers. It might look scary but my friend Megan pronounced it  “just like a baby swing!”

Helpful and friendly trolley driver on the super cute antique trolley

Megan and I also rode the Wildcat, an old-fashioned wooden coaster, and E rode the Zoomerang, which goes upside down and looked sufficiently terrifying. We unfortunately picked the one day all summer the great big huge award winning wooden coaster that goes up the mountain was closed (boo-urns!) but I’ve heard it’s awesome.

But I think the best ride all day was the antique carousel.

Don't let the face fool you - he cried when I tried to make him get off.

Whee?

This pretty much sums up how I felt the whole day

Reflecting (ba-dum-ching) on our day

Are you jealous of our trip yet? It was a really, really, really good time and I promise no one is paying me to say that. I imagine if it had been hot and crowded and I’d been dragging around a screaming, napless toddler this wouldn’t sound nearly as glowing, but because we picked a semi-rainy weekday and the kids were all on their very best public place behavior it was one of the most fun summer days we’ve ever had.

OK! Here’s where you win a chance at your own set of tickets. They come as a 4-pack and are good for anyone (although remember kids 3 and under are free) so you could bring extra hands to hold your baby while you rode The Revolution. Lake Compounce is located in Bristol, Connecticut, right outside Hartford and minutes from I-84. We spent 5 (FIVE!!) hours at the park and didn’t even do the water stuff, so I would say it’s definitely worth a day trip from most places in the tri-state area.

To win the 4-pack of tickets, simply comment on this post and include the words “I WANT TO GO TO THE LAKE!” I’ll be picking winners from people who use that phrase, so if you’re NOT local and CAN’T make the trip feel free to comment without it. Please be sure to use a real email or link to your blog so I can contact you if you win (although you don’t need a blog to win!). Tickets will be mailed to the winner directly from Smarter Social Media. One entry per person. I’ll pick a winner on Friday! Giveaway is now closed, and “I want to go to lake!” -er number 17 won: Christa, who lives in Bristol! How convenient! Have a great time!

Good luck!