Bounce Back

We decided to "bounce back" to Lagoon (return for a second visit for only $10/person). I took the kids to the park early in the day and Brian met us after work. I decided to indulge in a Pioneer Village photo shoot. It was suppose to be just the kids, but, they put this ug dress on me and had me get in the last shot.

That dress on Katie is cracking me up! It makes her look like she's a foot taller than she really is. The whole shoot was a riot. Katie could go from serious face to happy face in a heartbeat (the photographer was asking them to do both). The first time she asked them to do a serious face, Isaac kept grinning ear to ear like this: (imagine everyone else in the picture looking serious)
Then, he finally understood what she was asking him to do and he quickly switched to this "serious" face:
What a character! This last photo is the one I had made into an 8x10. Love it.

It was another big day for the Nicholson family as far as thrill rides go. Katie and Isaac will officially go on (and love) anything we put them on. Sophie is still very timid about going on "big" rides, but, added "The Bat" roller coaster at the end of the day after we assured her 100 times that it was (if anything) even more mild than Bombora (and, as added incentive Brian told her she could pick anything she wanted for breakfast today -- bacon and homemade pancakes).

Ian was itching to ride Colossus. He said Puff the Little Fire Dragon officially has no more appeal for him and Bombora is bomboring. He rode Colossus over and over, and the Wild Mouse (although, he said he hates that ride, and to be honest, I a little bit hate it too - those scary turns on the top level - Mama!). He rode the Jet Star 2 for the first time, and it briefly became his new favorite ride. Then, Brian talked him into the White Roller Coaster in the evening and that took over the number one slot.

He has now ridden all of the roller coasters except Wicked and The Spider. He told me this morning that he will ride Wicked if we will go back to Lagoon this summer (and, if he can pick what we eat for breakfast). Sophie added that she will ride the Jet Star 2 if we go back.

That might happen because we got free passes to return to the park after enduring a power outage from about 4-6 p.m. Everything (and, I do mean everything) was closed. Try managing four littles, by yourself, in a theme park where all they want to do is ride rides, but, they can't (and, two of them can't understand why). For the first 30-minutes, it was no big deal, but, then they started to get restless and fight with each other. That's O.K., we'll just grab and Icee and cool off in the shade. Oh, wait every single food stand is closed (you'd think they could sell you a dilly bar or something, but, no, the cash registers weren't working, so, no). I guess we'll go play in the fountain until they figure things out. Nope. Closed. Everything was at a dead standstill. After the first hour, people started seeking answers and I was pretty disappointed in the way the employees were handling the situation (chalk it up to a park run by teenagers and twenty-somethings -- their responses were things like, "Why don't you just go hang out at your house until the power comes back on and then come back the the park." -- because, of course, everyone lives five minutes away). But, then, they told everyone they could come back to the park on another day for free, which completely exceeded my expectations and was awesome.

By the time 8 p.m. or so rolled around, I was thinking that I was so tired, I wasn't sure I could return for another day. I mean, I love taking the kids to Lagoon and I want to do it once, or maybe twice, every summer, but, I don't know about having THAT much fun three times in a row. But, now, it's a new day. Sleep has erased the challenges and discomforts of yesterday. Sophie and Ian are excited to try more thrill rides. And, it looks like we'll just have to go again.