Roller Coasters-The Faster and Higher the Better

So today the kids didn't have school so we took them all to the local amusement park. When asked if they had a good day, S2 replied, "It was awesome!" S3 felt the same way. I assume S1 was also in agreement as he didn't want to get off of any of the rides and when he did go down the exit ramp, he was all hippity skippity. We meant to get to the park early but it was a vacation day for us too so we slept in a bit, had a leisurely breakfast and by the time we got our act together and to the park it was time for lunch.

We hit up the Subway next to the park for lunch only to discover that they only had two foot long breads and one six inch bread left! Apparently they were hit a lot harder than they expected and the bread that was baking wouldn't be ready for another 25 to 30 minutes. So we cleaned them out of the rest of their bread. We ate in the car and finally headed into the park shortly before 2 pm. When we first entered we hit all the kiddie rides. D1 had fun watching everyone and everything. S3 was afraid of everything and we had to make him ride even the kiddie rides, which he, of course, ended up liking. S1 would see a ride, get all excited, start running to it, see another ride, change directions, repeat. He had a hard time when we would try to get him to the first ride, reminding him he wanted to ride it, promising we'd go to the other ride next. Then there was waiting in line. Since it was a Thursday, the lines were rather reasonable but it was still hard for him to have to wait at times. It was better with some rides than with others. As time went on, S1 did better with staying focused on the ride we were going to and waiting in line. The best part was that when he was having a hard time leaving a ride, they let him ride twice. The park's policy is that disabled guest who have difficulty with loading/unloading can ride with their parties twice in a row. His difficulty isn't physical but cognitive, so that was great they let him go twice.

We did have one major meltdown when the little train went by. I was trying to get him to the train house so we could ride it, he was trying to follow the train - which was going in the opposite direction as it had just left the station. I tried distraction with fruit snacks, singing, etc but finally Dave just had to pick him up and carry him. Once S1 could figure out what we were actually doing, he calmed down and waited for the train. D1 went on the train too and had a lot of fun. Dave and I liked seeing all the animals (like a mini-zoo) along the way too. She loved looking around at everything and everyone.

Since it is almost Halloween, the park was all decorated and had special events. The boys loved those. D1 eventually fell asleep and took a nap in her stroller. But she didn't fall asleep before she rode on the carousel, tug boats and train. The only real snafu was that all the boys went to get on a ride and I stayed with D1 to feed her some dinner. Well, S3 decided he had to go to the bathroom and would skip the ride so Dave sent him down to me. Only S3 didn't come to me. When Dave and the other boys got off the ride, Dave asked me where S3 was. I told him I had no clue. Well, by this point in time it was about 7 pm. It was dark, it was getting cold (we didn't bring jackets because we didn't think we'd be there that long), we hadn't had dinner yet and now S3 was missing and S1 was starting to melt down because of all of the above (tired, cold, hungry) and he didn't want to leave the last ride. So I left Dave with S2 and D1 while he looked for S3 and I took S1 to go on another ride. He finally found the one he wanted but he was having a hard time waiting in line and was making some noise and crying - with tears. S1 rarely cries with tears so I knew he was getting close to melting down again. Luckily the closer to the front of the line we got the calmer he became. Standing in front of us was a group of 8 teenagers. They started to interact with S1 and he even took one girls hand and had her counting down with him. While in line with S1 I saw S3 heading back to where he'd last seen his dad. I called out to him and he ran over to me. I started to call Dave but then S3 and I could see him so I sent him over to Dave -thank goodness for cell phones! Turns out that I really just have very independent kids, because S3 was just fine. He had to go to the bathroom, he knew where one was so off he went. And then he was coming back. Simple right? Anyway, S1 was content after his last ride and with some redirection we made it out of the park without any further incidence.

So, what did we learn from this?

1. Always bring the leash. When S1 is melting down, there is no physically holding onto him, he's too wriggly and strong. It's much easier to hold the leash while he wriggles than to try and keep a hold of his hand while he is running away. When he's on rides you can stuff the loose end into his pocket or wrap it around his wrist several times and tuck under itself to keep it from hanging loose.

2. Bring lots of snacks. Even though he ate lunch before we went in, and I brought a few things for S1, his later difficulties could have been toned down, if not avoided if he wasn't hungry. We weren't planning on staying so late but sometimes you're having too much fun to stop! Plus the other kids would have liked some fruit snacks too.

3. Bring a sweatshirt. We didn't plan on staying so late so we didn't bring anything. And I didn't want to haul around something we wouldn't use. But cold, tired kids-hungry or not- are not as much fun as warm, tired kids are.

4. Start with the big kid rides first. When we arrived, the park wasn't that full. But we hit the kiddie rides first because that's what we came to first. So by the time we got to the big kid rides, the lines were longer. More teenagers come to the park after dinner time and more of the little kids go home at dinner time. So we probably could have gotten more rides in had we done the real rides first and the kiddie rides last.

5. S1l loves it all. Okay, I already knew this. But it didn't matter which kind of ride it was, S1 loves them all. Whether it was a free fall, straight up or down, spiral, loop, sharp turn or spinning, S1 enjoys them all. I was worried about a couple of the rides and his head bouncing around, but then I saw little four and five year olds getting off the rides with their parents and felt that if they could handle it, certainly S1 who is almost twelve could.

We left the park and got everyone into the car. We headed down the road and stopped at the first exit with a fast food place. Everyone ate as we drove down the road as now it was almost 8 pm. No way was I taking tired, hungry kids into a restaurant of any kind. Especially S1 who under optimal circumstances has difficulty behaving well in a restaurant and actually eating, forget about it when he is tired beyond belief and about to crash. Within five minutes of the food being consumed, everyone was asleep except for myself and Matthew. But I lost him too about halfway home. Since everyone was asleep when we were nearing home, I stopped at the grocery store to get a gallon of milk so we'd have some for breakfast. Due to the milk stop and traffic from an accident, it was 9 pm when we got home. We got everyone out of the car and into bed ASAP.

It really was a great day and it made everyone happy to see how happy S1 was. He really had a blast. I can't wait to hear what he has to say someday. Hopefully it's not, "I can't believe you did that to me. I hated it, it was torture!" Because really, who knows, maybe his laugh takes the place of scream, like his wires got crossed. But with how willingly he gets on the rides and sometimes refuses to get off, I'm pretty sure he loves them!