Thrill of the Ride

Our annual Black Family Day At Lagoon this year didn't start off as smoothly as we had hoped, but it sure ended well. Kimball decided to smear mud all over my khaki capris at 6:30 a.m., just as we were headed out for a week-long Fourth of July trip to Idaho, started off by events at the amusement park. He had broken away from Jared and I as we were trying to get loaded into the car and I ended up tackling him on the newly planted grass (a.k.a. mud hole) in the back yard. Believe me, it WAS the only way to stop him. With mud-caked sandles, I threw the punk over my shoulder and headed for the car. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the mud-stains until two hours into the trip. Uh, ... dark brown marks and khakis all day at Lagoon ... I don't think so. We took a quick detour to see Catherine the Queen and buy some new carpis (I wasn't complaining about the fact that I HAD to buy new clothes -- you do what you have to as a mom), followed by a quick stop at Artic circle for lunch. The corndogs were not a hit. Neither was the sunscreen that found its way into Kimball's eyes. He was so badly effected by it that his face broke out in hives, his eyes swelled up past the point of recognition, and his cries of despair turned into wails of agony. No, I'm not exaggerating. It was that bad.

By mid-afternoon, some of the wails had turned into moans, thanks to a few hundred runs in the waterslides at Lagoon-A-Beach. I even made a classic Kendra run on the one of the kid slides, causing a few raised eyebrows from the teenage lifeguards on duty. Can't adults scream as loud as the kids on the kiddie slides too? Anyway, the water did us a great service and took away the sting of the sunscreen from the few hours previous and the afternoon that followed was nothing short of "magical" for the kids ... and their parents.

There must be some sort of craziness that comes with red hair, because Koria was nothing short of insane on the rides. Jared taught her the art of the arms-in-the-air-scream which she mastered by her second roller-coaster ride. Kimball couldn't wipe the grin from his face, and neither could we.

With one final trip to Rattle Snake Rapids, we came out looking like one sunburned, exhausted, very wet family. Next year, we're not using sunscreen. At least not before noon.