We were up at a bit after four; loaded up
the minivan and truck; and then it the road in the pre-dawn light that wasn’t
even hinting at the cloudy, sometimes-rainy day ahead of us. Dad was on his own after that for his trip to
Crystal Springs, but Mom had Miranda in the van with her and the four younger
kids while Jacob had Rebecca, Lucas, Michael, and me in the van with him. The trip to the amusement park wasn’t
newsworthy, but the showers in the forecast had us choosing to spend the first
half of our day at the water park side of the place; since it didn’t matter if
we got rained on a bit while playing in the water anyway.
There was some rain too. It started not long after we arrived and
cleared the gates; and we really didn’t mind the bit of extra wet – mostly because
we really did only get some light showers and sprinkles instead of anything
heavy. I’m sure the boys wouldn’t have
cared if it poured, since they did get to spend all of that time with their
favorite girls in swimsuits; but let’s not go there. Then again, before I move on from that
thought, I’ll not that the sons in our group did find it a bit scary to have
their Moms getting a bit too much attention from some of the other guys at the
water park. That might have been scarier
for Ethan, since Dad wasn’t around, but having Jacob there didn’t keep some of
those guys from watching Miranda; so maybe it just wouldn’t have mattered if
Dad was with us or not.
Yes, Jacob got noticed by the women too,
but Miranda and Rebecca have fun with that; and let’s be honest – who can blame
those girls? ;^)
Okay, moving along, we had a blast playing
on the water slides and in the various pools and other water features around
the park until around one o’clock. After
that, we stopped for lunch; and then made the decision to move over to the
amusement park for the rest of the afternoon.
We took a bit of a chance that there might be more rain, but the
percentages were on our side, and though it remained cloudy most of the
afternoon; we didn’t get rained on again while we played on our favorite
rollercoasters and other extreme rides.
The four kids couldn’t do all of the coolest rides, but we took turns
going on rides with them or watching them while they went on some of the kiddie
rides so that the parents could take turns on the extreme rides too. Miranda and I took turns going on rides with
Mom after she was hit on twice by guys looking to pair up with her while
waiting in line.
Now that might have been scary for Ethan,
since one of those guys was probably closer to my age than Mom; and the other
had four tweens and teens of his own.
If you are currently having memory
flashbacks to the Brady Bunch or Eight is Enough episodes, then you’re either
not reading this far-enough in my future; or you need to have a talk with my
little brother if he’s added that sort of thing to our archives!
I’m mostly joking about that, but for all I
know, that will be possible; since collecting as much of the total human
knowledge is part of the long-term plan for our Magi archives; and television
shows and movies are a great way to preserve contemporary culture.
That’s getting way off-track for an
amusement park adventure day report; so let’s get back to the news of the day.
We played until dinnertime; headed for the
hotel; checked in; and then went out for dinner after getting cleaned up and
changed. That meal was at a nice, family-run,
Italian restaurant; the kids were happy with pizza; and the rest of us got to
enjoy trying out some different dishes that were really great – though we each
had at least one slice of pizza too while sampling as many different things as
we could in the hour and a half we spent there.
Jacob made a new friend and acquired a couple of recipes; so there’s a
good chance that we’ll see those dishes in upcoming buffets or even on the menu
at the Inn sometime in the future – once he’s had time to experiment with those
recipes for a while.
Note to me – don’t turn down any experimental
dinner invitations for the next month or two! ;^)
By the time we’d finished eating, we were
all running out of steam; so we headed back to the hotel. Mom has her own room tonight, and the teens
and tweens are in girls’ and boys’ rooms.
Rebecca and I have Ehlana and Naomi with us, and while we were teased
about that; the set-up wasn’t to avoid any co-ed sleepovers.
Speaking of that, I have no idea whether
the joke will ever get old, but Mom has pictures of Naomi in Ethan’s bed; and
she’d tucked herself in with him shortly before the parents stopped by to say
goodnight to all of us while we stayed up to watch a movie in the boys’ room. It is still funny now, though; and Naomi
really is adorable.
There were some hugs and kisses to go along
with that fun before the parents moved on to get some sleep. We watched a fairly-bad action-comedy; and
then it took three tries to get Naomi out of Ethan’s bed and on the way to our
room because she kept getting away and then jumped back into the bed
again. I’m wishing that I could have
done that with Michael; but let’s not go there either or I might start thinking
too much about going back over to the boys’ room and doing that. Since Michael might have Ethan and Aiden in
his bed; that would just be too crowded!
I have Naomi with me tonight, though I’m
not in our bed right now because I’m doing my bedtime computing at the desk
instead. That was mostly so I could work
without being observed by Rebecca; though all three of my roommates are
sleeping now. While I didn’t plan on
doing much family business work, a few things came up that needed to be dealt
with; so I’ve been dealing with that – and couldn’t kick up my work into high
gear – not even with any speed-typing.
It’s strange to have this be my latest night in a while when it’s on a
play day, but then that’s part of the reason I was stuck working tonight
instead of earlier in the day. I’ll
still manage to get more sleep than I did last night; if not by much. Since the plan is for a full day at the
amusement park, with an option for some afternoon water park fun; I should
probably just wrap this up and get to sleep soon.
We’ve really had a great day, and while it
would have been great to have more of our family and friends along; I’ll admit
that it was nice to be able to spend more time with everyone thanks to having a
smaller group. There’s still one more
day of extreme fun ahead of us, though, and I really do want to be ready for
that; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
