2014 Pepsico Night at Six Flags

It's that special time of year.....the annual Pepsico employee appreciation night at Six Flags Over Texas!

Nicholas brought along a good friend and we all went to dinner before going to the park.  We went to Simply Burgers which was our favorite burger place when we lived in Arlington.  Good memories and good food.

The boys were enjoying time together just talking.  I think they could have stayed there another hour but we reminded them of all the fun that awaited and they quickly finished their food.

Rachel was ready to go from the moment we got there.  She just wanted to get to Six Flags!

We all stopped by the restrooms before we left.  There was a line for the men's bathroom so Stuart snuck into the women's bathroom.  Yep, he's a rebel like that.

Onward to the FUN!!!

Once we made it into the park, Stuart took the boys to ride the bigger rides while Rachel and I hung out in the little kid area.  Since the park is closed to the public so there are hardly any lines for the rides.  We rode the Merry-Go-Round six times in a row without ever having to get off!

There was a little haunted house set up in Looney Tunes land where Rachel was able to go trick-or-treating for candy!

The Looney Tunes area has been re-arranged since we were here last year.  There were some old familiar rides but also new ones like this updated version of the airplane ride that the kids have always enjoyed.

As always, there were stations of free Pepsico products scattered throughout the park.

 Yes, all the Frito Lay chips, Grandma's cookies, Pepsi, Gatorade, and Aquafina you could possibly want.

But no refreshments from "our friends in Atlanta" could be found.

It was fun having time with Rachel all to myself.  Usually I have both kids with me and Nicholas just naturally seems to take the lead.  But since he was off with Stuart, I was able to let Rachel choose the rides and let her take the lead for a change.  She even drove the antique cars herself using the foot pedals and steering at the same time.

Check out this cute video of Rachel below:

What happened to Rachel's feet?

Stuart sent me pictures throughout the night of the fun they were having.

We had a great time and stayed until they closed the park at midnight.  I thought for sure at least one of the kids would fall asleep on the ride back home but amazingly they all stayed awake talking about the exciting time they had.  

Taking Flight with Granddad

Dad offered to take us up for a plane ride.  What a cool opportunity!  But there wasn't room for all of us to go up and I don't really like flying in little passenger planes so I offered to sit this one out.  Instead Rachel and I would go hit some antique shops in Denham Springs.

We dropped the boys off at Grandad's house.  Nicholas was excited just trying on the headset.  I think he wore them for the whole drive to the airport. 

I had to get a picture of my three favorite guys in the world.  Have fun!

Stuart took the camera along to get pictures for me.  This is the plane Dad rented for their ride. 

Grandad took Nicholas around the plane with him as they checked it out. 

 

Here are a few videos Stuart got of their flight.  If you are reading this in the email update then you'll have to click over to the actual blog to see these.



A touch and go

 
I was really excited that Nicholas got to do this with Grandad. It was a neat experience for him but it was also cool that we just finished up studying about the history of flight and how planes work back in the Spring as part of our Konos study of Trust.

Pepsico Night at Six Flags

Yes, it's Six Flags time of year again!

Every year, Pepsico rents out Six Flags Over Texas for their private party to thank their employees. They are really a good company to work for and the CEO puts a priority on work-life balance and taking care of your family.

Of course, the kids love it since it's the only time we ever go to Six Flags.

The kids found souvenirs to beg for so conveniently located at the entrance to the park.

Rachel found these nifty glasses.

And Nicholas is sporting this classy mustache at the age of 7.

I was amazed that Rachel didn't cry when she saw the big giant Foghorn Leghorn rooster guy.  We've come here for years and when Nicholas was Rachel's age and older, he would cry and cling to us before getting anywhere near one of these big characters.  Rachel is so quiet and shy that I expected the same from her.  But with Daddy's coaxing, she actually shook Foghorn's hand!

Ah, the truck ride.  Another thing we have done for years and years.  It is always the first ride we come to and we usually ride it several times.  It's great for little kids...but also fun for big brothers and even a Daddy or two.

Throughout the park are Pepsico stations with tables and tables of Frito Lay products like Lays, Fritos, Doritors, Sun Chips, and Funyons as well as buckets and buckets of iced down Pepsi products like Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Gatorade, and Aquafina Water. You can just go up to these tables and help yourself to a snack and a drink.

Cheetos Puffs were the big hit of the night for us.  Anytime we headed to the snack station, one of us always seemed to grab more Cheetos Puffs.

The Little Diva especially likes Puffs.

I only wish they didn't turn everything they come in contact with this lovely shade of neon orange!

Rachel was excited about riding the Teacups.  She rode it last year with Nicholas and got a little scared when Nicholas got the car spinning really fast. 

This year, Nicholas was told that he couldn't spin the car because we weren't sure how Rachel would react.  The ride naturally spins the cars a little bit but poor Nicholas didn't understand this so he spent much of the ride trying to make it stop spinning.  But Rachel was actually wanting it to spin this time!

They rode this swing ride in the Looney Tunes (little kid) area.  Rachel looked down the whole time and I'm not sure that she enjoyed it.  Nicholas was just bored and couldn't wait to get the big rides.

We had fun on some rides but way too early in the night the rain clouds moved in.  It was just a drizzle then it got a little harder.  Some of the rides were able to continue for a while in the drizzle but there were episodes of lightning that would start and stop suddenly so the Park decided to turn the rides off for a while.

With most of the rides shut down, we let Nicholas play on the Midway games and both kids got to use our free Daffy Ducks to get a souvenir.

We were all disappointed about the rain and ended up leaving much earlier than usual. But at the same time, we are all getting over being sick and didn't need to spend the evening hanging out in wet clothes for rides that may or may not come back on. But we still had fun for a while. And of course, there's always next year.