A Day at The North Pole

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Did you know the North Pole and Santa’s workshop is actually located in Cascade, Colorado?

The North Pole is a Christmas-themed amusement park at the foot of Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs, complete with its own United States Post Office, claiming the official zip code for The North Pole! The North Pole has been around for a long time. I went as a little girl, if you need a time frame.

The North Pole was a vision of Walt Disney’s. A little girl told him all about what she thought the North Pole was like, and he ran with the idea and made plans for a North Pole-themed amusement park. The park is geared toward younger kids, I’d say 12and younger.

Our kids were all the PERFECT age for the North Pole this year. All of them could ride most of the rides together without the help of Travis and me. We didn’t complain when we “had” to sit on the big-kid rides with the kids, however.

Dawson’s favorite ride was the motorcycles. You’ve seen them. The motorcycle ride is just like the ones you see at a carnival. They go round and round, have two seats and, of course, a cute little horn on each one that the kids can honk to their hearts’ content. Dawson’s rode one big kid ride, the tilt-o-whirl, and then decided he wasn’t quite ready for the rest of the more “dangerous” rides.

The tilt-o-whirl, on the other hand, was Madalynn’s favorite ride. I don’t know if she liked it most because she just spun and spun and spun around, or if she liked it because Travis and all four kids got experience it together in one seat. She bravely rode all of the big kid rides and was bummed that the big Ferris wheel shut down (due to weather) before we got to ride.

Justis’s favorite ride was the roller coaster. Imagine that! He, not to be outdone by big sister Madalynn, also rode all of the big kid rides. He’s not much for heights, I discovered. I can’t blame him, because neither am I! During his last ride on the rocking boat with me and Madalynn, he calmly said, “Okay, Mom, I don’t like this ride. I want it to stop.” That’s about the same time I was thinking, “Why did I agree to get on this ride. I want to get off NOW!” I gently encouraged him to close his eyes and explained it was normal to be scared on some rides. He quietly said, “No. I’ll just look down at my feet. I don’t need to shut my eyes. We then proceeded to swing back and forth, higher and higher, until the ride stopped. He got off, I gave him a high five for bravery, and we walked away smiling.

Jillian said her favorite ride was, “Red. The red motorcycle and the red boat.” Simple as that! Jillian likes anything red. Red is currently the “concept” (it can’t be described as an object) of her affection. She was NOT afraid of any ride she rode, which was most of them. She made clear to us which rides she wanted to pass on, and we happily catered to her request.

The scrambler is my favorite ride, and always has been. I got to sit with Justis when we rode it, and Madalynn, since she was tall enough, rode by herself. I can’t believe my stomach can still handle the spinning. I’m SO glad I still have my “stomach of steel” so I can enjoy riding rides. I enjoy them just as much as the kids.

Travis got off the tilt-o-whirl, after riding with the five kids, with a green and sweaty face. He didn’t say anything, but I asked. He said he knows better and shouldn’t have gotten on that ride. He said rides that spin independently while spinning in a large circle have always made his stomach a little off-tilt. To his credit, he did it for the kids. They wanted to ride with Travis, so he obliged. Travis’s favorite part of the day was watching the kids enjoy themselves so much.
Can I have two favorite parts of the day? Sure. (Duh! I’m the writer of this blog.) My second-favorite part of the day is that no one got sick! Justis and Travis were feeling ill after spinning together one too many times on the boat swings as we hurriedly rushed out of the park. Rain started falling shortly after they rode that ride together. We got in the car and the 40-minute winding ride back to the cabin didn’t help their stomachs. They lay down for a good thirty minutes when we got home and were good to go after that.

We then ate supper and watched the movie “Matilda” together, then called it a night!