As Promised

Now that I have kids to enjoy it, Lagoon is regaining the magic that was lost to me after working there. This year was especially fun because Isaac was tall enough to go on quite a few of the bigger rides (and even Aaron, with his nerves of steel, could ride a surprising number of them) and Jordan took the day off to go with us. I don't remember exactly when we left for the night, but it was after having spent at least 10 hours on the park . . . and don't even remember one single meltdown.

Aaron was not feeling his best for much of the day. Despite the lack of smiles, he went on quite a few rides and seemed to truly enjoy a few. He loved the boats and cars for he got to 'steer' and being the water lover that he is, was quite distraught at being left behind for Rattlesnake Rapids. The offense, however, was readily forgotten as I pointed out all the ducks on the way to Mother Goose Land* and he was able to quack ('meh meh') at them all. *Speaking of Mother Goose Land . . . does anyone else remember being able to play in the shoe back in the day or is this one of my fabricated childhood moments?*

Isaac was most looking forward to the "wet rides" that he was too short for last year and they certainly did not fail his expectations. He was walking around, soaked to the bone, with his shorts constantly around his knees and still wanting to get wet. Late in the afternoon, after taking all day to dry, he rediscovered the fountains at the entrance and was subsequently drenched again. Lucky for his shivering little body I had had the sense to pack spare clothes in our day bag.

For the most part, Isaac was able to direct the day. When it was starting to get dark, he decided we should go on the "scary ride" which was just fine. Problem being that we walked right past Scamper (the mini bumper cars) to get to there. I'd been trying to avoid the ride . . . one of my earliest memories of Lagoon is being on Scamper as a really little kid and continually running into the same spot on the curb for the duration of the ride. Not fun. I didn't want Isaac to have a similarly discouraging experience. Of course after seeing it, Isaac wanted to ride. So we tried to explain how to make the car work and that it was okay to bump the other cars. Turns out we should have been explaining to him that some Ride Operators are inept and shouldn't be operating heavy machinery (especially when kids are present), but to try to have fun anyway. This particular RO stopped the ride no less than 3 times to pull the same little girl out of the corner before completely restarting the ride cycle and leaving all the kids entirely baffled as to what they should do next. The trick to this ride is that you have to turn the wheel a lot before the cars start to move. Not a problem when all the kids are starting off excited at the prospect of driving their own car - all the steering wheels are turning away. After having their car mysteriously stop working on not one or two, but three seperate occasions, the magic is lost and you end up with clusters of kids wearing blank stares and wondering why it is they can't get out. Parents watching from the sidelines, Jordan and myself included, could not contain the laughter of disbelief as we witnessed more and more kids slip into dazed confusion as the RO repeatedly restarted the ride. When he was finally released from the ride enclosure, Isaac came trotting back to us with a little less spring in his step than when he'd started his solo adventure. However, after reassuring him that it was a pretty tricky ride and we could try again when he was bigger, he was off and ready for the next attraction.

All things considered, it was an extremely fun day. For a few more pictures, including one of my very own Mr. Muscles, visit here.

And just because this is our blog and I can therefore show-off if I want to . . .

Here's my latest creation, which turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. I bought a pack of twistable crayons for church hoping Aaron would be less prone to eating them (he's not) and then ran into the problem of the boys each wanting control of them at the same time. So, I split that 24 pack right up and made three little carrying cases for them. Now, Isaac can pick his pack and color away the wiggles while Aaron entertains himself playing the in-n-out game for hours (okay, deca-minutes) on end.

And there you have it . . . yet another blog post before the dust of our last has settled.