Six Flags Great Escape

A Rite of Passage

All cultures have rites of passage - a test or a task that needs completion - something to prove a person is ready to move into the next stage of life. Well, last Wednesday, August 19, 2009, I completed a rite of passage. I had no warning I was about to be tested - no inclination that my life was about to undergo a monumental change....

We had traveled that morning to Lake George, NY and entered the Six Flags Great Escape park in the heat and humidity of early afternoon. We meandered our way to the "Loony Tunes" part of the park and the girls began knocking out the kiddie rides one right after another. The park had all the classic kid rides - the airplanes, the cars, the boats, the train, the swings, the hopper, the sky bus and even a roller coaster! The lines were short and more than once they were able to come off a ride only to re-enter the line and get right back on. They were having a blast.

I was hot. I tried to watch them going round and round from any small spot of shade I could find. I clicked pictures and energetically waved and smiled each time they came round for about the first 2 hours and then it got old. So I started to reminisse about my childhood and the amusement park rides that I loved. After a couple hours of that I wanted to do something - ride something. I wanted to move out of the kiddie area where one must be 54" or shorter to ride. The clock was ticking. It was nearing 5 pm. The park was on shortened hours of operation as the start of the school year was fast approaching. and would close at 7.

I talked the kids into moving on to find something to eat and maybe ride a couple of "family" rides. On our way to an eatery we came to the "Trabant." I was eager to ride - food could wait. I had been sitting out watching the fun for long enough - I wanted to feel the thrill of excitement - I wanted to enjoy the fun, not to mention the rush of the wind would definitely be a nice break from the heat.

Loren was up for it so we entered the gates and got right on. Loren rode with Emma and Lucy was with me. Before the ride started I snapped a couple of pictures and Lucy and I giggled in excitement.














Then it started. Around and around we spun. Faster and faster. Then the platform we were spinning on lifted and shifted up and down, side to side as all the while we continued to go round and round. The ride was in full tilt and Lucy made fun sounds like, "Whoaoaoaoa! Whoaoaoaoaoa!" At one point she asked, "Isn't this fun, Mommy?" I just took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut hoping that by not actually seeing the landscape spinning around me I might fool my body into thinking all was well and the overwhelming feeling of motion sickness would subside enough for me to exit the ride without the attendant having to clean up after me.

Maybe my idea worked or maybe my stomach was stronger than I gave it credit for. Either way I survived without publically embarassing myself. I told Loren I was feeling a bit green so he and the girls checked out the map for a nearby place to eat as I sat on a stone wall in the shade for a moment to gather myself. Once I was sure I wasn't going to need a restroom, I picked up my head from where it hung and opened my eyes. In front of me was the "Trabant" spinning and whirlling with a new set of passengers. It didn't look all that monumental. It didn't look life changing. It didn't look like a testing ground. But regardless of how it appeared, it was monumental. It was life changing. It had indeed tested me, and I had passed. No longer was I a member of the young, fun-loving, go-faster, give-me-more, let's-do-it-again generation. I had passed, officially, into the party-pooper, sit-and-watch, yes-I-know-I'm-boring group of people I thought one need be much older to belong to.

After that, I spent my time people watching from the side lines. I admired those my equal or older who dared take on such rides as the Pirate Ship and the Merry-Go-Round. I smiled meekly with understanding at others who sat out, looking in from the outside. I thought fondly of childhood and happy memories spun and whirled about me as I tried to come to grips with the fact that I would never again come out of an exit gate smiling.

A while back a good friend, (through a number of misunderstandings and errors that could have happened to anyone,) had a run-in with the law that landed her in the back of a police car with her young children looking on. The situation was eventually straightened out but I think my children are scarred for life after hearing her kids tell about their mommy being put in the back of a police car ready to be hauled off to jail! Now the standard response to my direction, "Buckle your seat belt," is something like, "Yeah, or the police man will get you, put you in the back of his car and take you to jail!"

Today we were at the gas station filling up and a State Trooper K-9 vehicle pulled in at the pump right next to us. There was a dog in the back and although you couldn't really see him - just the outline of his head and pointy ears due to the dark shades they had on the windows - you sure could hear him! He kept looking at me and barking so much that I wondered if I resembled someone on a wanted poster that lined the bottom of the his cage.

When I got in the car I said to the girls, "There is a dog in the back of that police car." They both turned their heads to look and Lucy asked, "Is the policeman taking him to jail?" I couldn't help but share the adorable comment with the officer and he was kind enough to give the girls one of CJ's official business cards!

Emma's Report Card

Okay - this is just too funny! Emma came home on this, her last day of kindergarten, report card in hand. She did very well and received nice comments from her teachers. The comment from her speech teacher made me laugh out loud. Remember, Emma doesn't need speech for articulation problems, but rather for "social pragmatic language skills" or conversation etiquette.

Here is the comment:
"Emma has been working on her conversational skills in a group setting, specifically letting others talk and responding to there comments. She has made gains, but continues to need reminders to listen to others and act interested in what they are saying."

Straight From The Horse's Mouth

The other day Lucy and I were driving into Watertown and I saw an Amish person waiting to turn into traffic from a side road. I said, "Look out your window, Lucy and you will see a horse and buggy."
Once we had passed it I asked, "Did you see it?" to which she replied, "I saw the horse, but not the bunny."

(FYI I didn't take this picture - that's not something the Amish like, so I've heard. This came straight off Google Images.)

Loren picked up some hay to put over the areas in the back yard that he seeded with grass. He totally over estimated the amount of hay he would need so we ended up with 7 extra bales. When he mentioned that he didn't know what we would do with the extra Lucy piped in, "Hay is for horses! Maybe we could get horses!"
"I don't know, Lucy," I replied, "I don't know anything about horses."
"I do!" she replied quite matter-of-factly, "You ride them."

Dance Recital

Emma and Lucy were in a dance recital on Saturday. It was Lucy's first ever recital of any kind! They both did well and looked sooooo cute! Emma looked way too old!! She is certainly not a little kid any more! Check out Lucy's updo! Thank goodness for hair gel and bobby pins!































It's true what they say, "What goes up, must come down!" And so it was with Lucy's hair. After the show we went for ice cream and on the way home in the car I started taking down her hair in preparation for washing, but before I put her in the tub I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures!

Emma's McQuotes

If you are Emma or Lucy, life doesn't get much better than lunch at McDonalds! Okay, so it would be better if I let them actually go IN and play in the Play Place but face it folks, that is like letting your kid play in germ pit, so my kids have learned to love the drive-thru. Since we needed to get home we didn't pull over in the parking lot and have a car picnic like we sometimes do but instead I kept driving with one hand and opened Happy Meal toy bags with the other.
I have a small mirror attached to the rear-view so that I can keep my eye on the back seat without turning my head - hey, safety first. So I was checking things out and noticed Emma's face was looking like she was not exactly enjoying her food. I asked her what was the matter and she said the chicken nugget she was eating tasted funny. Normally I would have told her to keep chewing, but her face seemed to indicate there was a real problem. So I gave her a napkin and told her to spit it out. I watched in the mirror as she did but apparently it didn't all come out of her mouth because she started to gag and I thought sure she was going to toss her nuggets.
Mind you, I'm still driving on I-81. So I started yelling directions to Lucy to give her her Happy Meal Box to act as a catch-basin and I pulled off the exit ramp. Somewhere amid the chaos Emma said, "It's okay. I'm okay," and from the looks of it she was. I sighed a HUGE sigh of relief and asked, "Are you sure?" to which she replied calmly as if she hadn't just had a close call with up-chucking all over the cloth upholstery of the back seat, "Yeah. That nugget was just REALLY crunchy." I burst out laughing. I'm sure it was one of those "you had to be there" things or maybe my laughter came from pure relief that I wasn't going to have drive the rest of the way home suppressing the urge to vomit myself because of the odor wafting up from the back. Either way I continued to chuckle and remembered yet another funny thing Emma said a while back after reading the writing on her McDonald's apple juice juice box. "Hey, Mommy! This apple juice has 100 vitamin C's and I can't even taste them!"