Six Flags

We took the kids to Six Flags this summer with no expectations at all. We figured Claire would enjoy it, but wasn't sure if Jeremiah would, or if we as parents would enjoy it either. To sum it up, we had a blast!!

We got down there as the park opened and decided to start off our day by riding Thunder River. We waited in the wrong line for 15 minutes and then after realizing our mistake we walked right up the the Thunder River gate. The ride started out fine and everyone was enjoying it. I, however, got drenched. I mean from head to toe it looked like I had jumped in the river fully clothed. So the only downer to my day was trudging along in soaked sneakers. Of course my kids thought it was hilarious that I got so wet.

After that Claire saw a sort of roller coaster she wanted to go on. Jeremiah was too short to go so Stuart took Claire and I took an alligator-tear face boy to the merry-go-round. Jeremiah was not impressed but rode it, sobbing the whole time, pointing to the coaster saying, "I'm so sad I can't go on that with Claire." We wouldn't realized until later how many rides Jeremiah was just an inch too short to go on.

Stuart came off the roller coaster dizzy (the cars apparently spin around while on the track) and with little desire to go another one. Claire spotted a wooden roller coaster so we switched. Stuart took Jeremiah to the Loony Toons section (AKA little kids' theme park) and I took Claire to the coaster. We trudged up the hill and finally got on. We were both giddy with excitement. I used to love coasters and hadn't been on one in a long time.

As we started our first decent, I knew this was no '80's wooden roller coaster. I panicked a bit because I was worried for Claire. Instinctively I reached out an arm to keep Claire in the coaster and braced my ankle against the side of the car for extra support. Claire screamed, "Don't hang on to meeeeeeee! Let me goooooo!" Instead of ever letting up some the coaster just kept going fast and furious and with more intensity. Then I hear Claire shout, "Hang on to meeeeeeee! Don't let me goooooo!" Had my face not been plastered backwards from the rushing wind I probably would have laughed.

We were both out of words but laughing nervously after the ride. I said, "I don't think we need to go on that again!" Claire said, "Yeah." Yet 20 minutes later Claire was asking to go on it again. Youth. You have to love it.

After the coaster we met up with the boys and let Claire ride some of the mini rides. My apologies to Claire. She is only in one Six Flags photo. That's because the battery died so we really only have some of Jeremiah when he was with Stuart at Loony Tunes. When we got there we took some others and that was it. But despite the lack of photographic evidence, Claire was there and had a wonderful time.

The gigantic ferris wheel beckoned my husband and kids so we headed to that. I had absolutely zero plans to get on it. I have a height fear. But the kids pleaded and Stuart prodded and I thought since this was enclosed that maybe I could use this as some sort of height therapy. The ride started out ok until we got stopped at the very top. I knew this would probably happen and just looked at my lap. The other people across from us were pleasant and didn't laugh at my refusal to enjoy the site. Then time kept passing and we kept staying still. Way longer that what is normal. I would have a wave of panic and then a sense of understanding like, "well, if this thing is going to crash there's really nothing to be done at this point so you might as well look around." And then I'd look around at the view, then look down at my lap. At one point enough was enough. I was ready to scream for Superman to come whisk me away and one guy across from me was about ready to be sick. At this point we started moving--after being up there 20 minutes or more. When we got down a lady whose car was emptied before ours asks in a very irritated tone, "Why were we up there for so long?" Turns out, someone had thrown up in a different car and they had to clean it up. What they didn't know was they were lucky they didn't have several more cars like that. What I also can't get over is how fearless my kids were. They loved it. There was absolutely no fear in them at all. Amazing. Anyway, I guess that's what you call immersion therapy.

The rest of the afternoon we rode rides that were our favorites. Jeremiah and Stuart really loved the short water ride that drenches you. Afterwards Jeremiah would stand on the bridge waiting for the next flume to come by and douse him as it went under. I was plenty tired of wet sneaker and passed on that. The bumper cars were also a hit, but both kids protested being too young to drive them. I noticed that bumper cars are a bit different from when I was growing up. When we did bumper cars at Lagoon, it was bump whomever, whenever you could. It made no difference if you knew them or not. I noticed it seemed like people only felt like they could bump someone they knew, or at least almost apologize for bumping me. It was almost polite in there. Well, with the exception of the Lynn cars gunning for each other and trying to get the best bumps you could. One time I did purposely bump some tween drivers just to see their reaction and they seemed to love it. They laughed and went for me too. Now that's the bumper cars I'm used to.

Finally, at 5:00 we asked Claire if she wanted to stay or go to her softball game. It took awhile to make the decision but she chose softball. So we left the park and our grime covered family show up at the ball park where our haggard daughter manages to make it through the game. The field they played on was dirt and we were still wet so we came home almost looking like a new species. Still, it was a very fun day. Even though it was a Saturday the lines were short so we got to ride things over and over again. We had so much fun that we hope to get to do it again!