Great America

Lisa took the kids and Aiden, YaYa's boyfriend, to Great America with Trudy A. They were gone until ten o'clock and had a blast.

Six Flags Great America

Around (on?) Lump's birthday Lisa took the family, minus yours truly and Lump herself, to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. Our friend Chris and her kids also went along. 

I can't believe I lucked out and didn't have to go this year. I'll go on roller coasters but I don't enjoy them much, and the idea of a crowded park and lines stretching to eternity make me want to curl up in a ball and call for my Mommy.

Lisa, natch, loves roller coasters and theme parks, so the kids will never be short a volunteer chaperone.

The family loved the parade at the end of the day, were forced out of the waterpark area for an hour because of a 'Code Brown' (a fecal accident in the pool), and YaYa rode The Eagle, the old wooden roller coaster that's the park's oldest attraction, without blinking an eye. They returned home close to midnight.

A great day for everyone - including me :)

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Great America June 1st

For LuLu's fourth (and Golden) birthday we took her down to Gurnee to Six Flags Great America.

Let it be known that I itch at the thought of setting foot in the place: crowds and chaos and roller coasters.

Ugh.

But that's because I'm a kook, and in recognition of said fact I consented to go.

I'm sure it was worse for Lis, being 7 months pregnant at the time.

We started off with the nearest ride, the massive Merry Go Round inside the gates.

Park, as you'll note, was harnessed for the day, one of the best Dang inventions for children EVER.

Doesn't seem like he enjoyed the ride, but I promise ya he did.

With Lis out of the picture it was up to me to share the rides with the kids. Yikes.

Here's a shot of the kids with Pepe Le Pew (sp?)

Tho' Lis took a turn on some easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy infant rides.

The kids enjoyed Wiggles World and the characters they met.

 

As the morning wore on we attended a stage show featuring Bugs Bunny. At the end my kids were invited onstage for a minute.

Then it was off to a picnic lunch in the parking lot.

After lunch it was off to the water park at Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor. Thankfully the idea of putting large amounts of water near my camera prevented any topless pics of myself (huzzah!).

Sadly for the kids we had misjudged the closing time of the water park and only had about 15 minutes in the water - we had spent a lot of time after lunch waiting in line for and riding a roller coaster twice - tho' it was long enough for YaYa to run off and ride some massive slides without telling me where she was going.

[btw - for the record we truly misjudged the time. Yes, I have a well-established distrust of having my kids around water after seeing a double-drowning incident [curse that day]but I did not sabotage this trip]

After closing the water park we went on a few more rides, one of which made me very nauseous. It was just a carnival ride, but we rode it twice and  . . well, I almost made it. But then I stepped foot inside the men's room and the decrepit stench of an amusement park men's room cause me to launch my lunch into the nearest toilet.

[This is not a photo of said ride]

Niiiiice.

Anyhow, storm clouds began to gather. We went shopping for souvenirs and then paid to have a park-taken photo printed when . . .

The sky broke open and it poured. And poured. And poured. Trust me, this pic doesn't even hint at what was to come.

It was obvious the parade would be canceled for the evening and the rides shut down, so with decorum and class - unlike the FIBS who ran like ninny's as if it was acid falling down - we retreated to the car.

Where we sat, drenched to the bone, until both the worst of the storm and the traffic dissipated.

You know what, it was a really fun day and a great way for my Lu to celebrate her 4th birthday!