A Six Flags Adventure

One of the things I love about summer is getting the chance to do fun things in our own city that we don't necessarily do during the year. We're trying to do some local things with the girls that we've never done before school begins again. This was one of those activities I got in my head that I wanted to try. (I'll blog about "my list" another day... :)

A place I remember well (although not necessarily fondly) from my adolescent years is Six Flags over Texas. I am NOT a roller-coaster rider. I am NOT a fan of intense heat. And, I really don't even like most of the junk food at amusement parks (although I've become a fan of corn dogs, hot dogs, and many things with fried dough in my adult years.)

But, there is something fun about going back somewhere you remember so well and watching your children love it. Mark has previously named himself a "Disneyland snob", since he grew up attending Disneyland just like I did Six Flags. I will admit there is really no comparison to be made between the two...but I think even Mark was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had at our Six Flags outing this last week.

Last Wednesday, Mark took the day off, and we headed to Arlington. We had a picnic lunch and then began our fun adventure. (I took lots of pictures...so please bear with me. :)

Three adorable girls in their shades, ready for some Six Flags fun...

AK loved her sunglasses, and wore them off and on throughout the day. When she had them on, she would smile like "I know I'm cute in these!"

We started the day on some of the rides that Abby Kate could participate in. Of course, the carousel, where Abby Kate waved to all the horses...Here she is saying hello to the one next to her. We had some fun in Looney Tunes land, although there were actually a few rides we didn't get to. I guess that gives us a reason to go back again! We did take the opportunity to take pictures with---and introduce our kids to---the Looney Tunes characters. It was really funny that our kids had no idea who most of them were!

We also took the opportunity to have some cool air throughout the day and visited almost every show. However, I was not impressed with the ones that were actually just videos to watch. What happened to all the fun singing and dancing?? We did find one that was a humdinger. Mark and I tried to stifle our laughter as we saw the "saloon dancing show". Mark leaned over and said "This makes me think of Simon". If you're an American Idol watcher, what do you think Simon would say to this guy?

I guarantee we'll see him on an upcoming season...he thought he was some hot stuff in his hot pink get-up! And, I'm sure he was excited that I wanted to take his picture. :)

There were lots of rides ridden...mostly by Mark and the girls, while I waited with Abby Kate. Don't worry...that's how I like to do Six Flags. Right, family?! But, I did get to participate some. We rode the cave ride THREE times, and I was excited to see my girls love it as much as I did back in the day. They would have ridden it 20 more times if we had let them. Even Abby Kate, who would have normally climbed right out of the boat, sat like this the entire time for all three rides:

That Yosemite Sam is a show-stopper, even after all these years!

Both of the girls actually rode some pretty fast, fun rides, which I was glad to see. I really don't want them to inherit my woosiness for all rides. Here are a few of them :

One of my favorite pictures is actually taken from a LONG way away. I zoomed and cropped it on the computer enough to see their expressions as they went soaring down the hill of the Log Ride. I'm so glad that I could get in close, even without a long lens (even if it's the worst picture quality ever). Here's the far away version:And, here it is cropped. I love their faces, and I love that Kendyll's legs are stiff as can be, as she grips the sides of the boat. Pretty funny.

Meanwhile, Abby Kate was a trooper!! She drank some Gatorade, lounged in the stroller, ate alot, lost BOTH of her paci's, and had the occasional temper-tantrum. :) I would love to blame the heat and exhaustion for this, but let's be honest...this is something we see every day more than once. I still think it's cute and picture-worthy!

Mark attempted to win a prize doing a "survivor-type" balancing game. Hysterical to watch. Kendyll tried too, and actually got as far as Mark did. But, no such luck. We were not the lucky new owners of a giant frog or tiger, much to our daughters' disappointment. Their disappointment continued when we informed them that we would not be playing any of the other games that cost at least $8.00 to play...once.

Another thing that will not surprise my family is that I had forgotten where most of the rides were located. We probably spent half our day circling around trying to figure out where to go next. Luckily, I had my trusty map-reading assistant. Kendyll was TOO cute reading the map, and making plans for what to do next. Makes her mommy proud! :)

(And, by the way, something needs to be done about Six Flags' confusing locations for half of their rides. It really wore me out to go the complete opposite way from where we were supposed to be, only to be told that the entrance was actually 1/2 a mile from where we just were. Anyway, sorry for the tangent.)

Back to the rest of the day! We did the face painting, the ice cream shop, a couple more shows, Johnny Rockets hamburgers, and the parade. This is the point when Mark started showing his Disneyland snobbiness. He started laughing out loud at the parade. But, I have to say that I agreed. It didn't exactly equal the "big main street" parade that the map and multiple signs said it would be, although it did have some floats! Even Kendyll said "Was that it?" Not a good sign. :)

The last event of the day was their cirque du soleil type show called "Coobrila". It was actually REALLY good, and the girls loved it! Lots of acrobatics, trapeze artists, guys balancing on small chairs and rolling cans while juggling, and lots of elaborate costumes and colors. The catch was that it started at 9:30 pm. Abby Kate actually made it through it, with some help of a popcorn snack. (Which a mom two rows in front of us questioned us about. All I said was "She's a third child and it's 10:00. She gets to have popcorn!" ) But, she actually loved the show and never once got fussy. Now, when we got to the car and she had no paci...well, that's a different story. :) Let's just say we had a late night run to CVS that night!

All in all, a VERY fun day at Six Flags. All three girls had some fun, and we enjoyed a day off . Of course, that was a very sweaty day and a very late night, and took a whole day of recovery...but it really was worth it. :)