Mother's Day Fun

Worlds of Fun. We went to Worlds of Fun for Mother's Day. Packed the girls and the boy in the car, left and arrived just before 1:00PM at the park for a glorious day. It was very windy in the morning, just cold enough to need a wind breaker and deter lots of people, but warm enough in the evening for a great day.

Terra's now over 54" tall so she cannot ride the "Camp Snoopy" rides any more. Madeline is right at 54", she can go between either type of ride if she wants. It started off regular, we went on the carousel. The girls were glad to be on their own horses. No lines whatsoever, they could pick any horse they wanted. Jack, mom, and I sat on the chariot. Jack's eyes were like a typewriter when the carousel was roating, his eyes were moving back and forth, right to left as "Le Carousel" ride played out.

Then Le Taxi Cab. Then the Jumping Kangaroos and Terra's revelation she is too tall to ride some of the rides, including the Jumping Kangaroo thing. Now the real rite of passage -- Le roller coaster.

Terra was afraid at first, but Madeline volunteered to go on the Timberwolf. Dad volunteered to go with her. The ride commenced and Madeline asked me to hold her hand. I tried to distract her, "Make a silly face to Mom, Jack, and Terra." Madeline provided a goofy smile with her thumbs up. "Don't forget, Madeline, your cousin loves roller coasters," I reminded her.

Crank. Crank. Crank goes goes the roller coaster. We notched our way up in elevation for our eventual descent. Madeline held on to my hand tighter.
"Sarah loves roller coaster, Sarah loves roller coasters," I heard Madeline whispering to herself. We reached the top and whooooooosh. We had come to our inevitable decline. Madeline screamed. She closed her eyes. She screamed more. I yelled over the sound of the cars, steel track, and wooden beams, "Great Madeline, you're doing great."

It went on, and on. Madeline closed her eyes tight and screamed while I tried to console her. We made it to the end and cranked our way slowly to the finish. I looked and Madeline, still somewhat traumatized, and said, "You did great. Now smile, so Terra's not afraid." Then, she beamed.

We arrived back where we started and Terra, like a laser, looked at Madeline to see how it went. Madeline smiled so big and waved enthusiastically; you never knew anything.

Terra found her courage. She and I rode next. She held my hand and closed her eyes. She made it through the roller coaster "too tall to ride the little rides" rite of passage, same as Madeline.

"Did you hear me cry?" Madeline asked her Mom. "No, no way," Mom replied. "Yeah. It must have been someone else," Madeline said, while Terra and I were on her first trip.

It was a long day. We rode three other roller coasters. The girls came back to ride the Timberwolf a staggering eight times in a row. Fortunately, the parents could stand by, relax, and not go through any more rite of passages.

Jack found his own way to entertain himself. He was in the stroller for most of the day. He decided to lean forward, while strapped in with the restrains as far as he could. I peered over at him from one of the roller coaster rides and heard the lady behind me say, "Ma'am! Ma'am!! Your baby!!! He's about to fall out of his stroller." I looked back and reassured her, "Don't worry. He's strapped in. He's been doing it all day."