Doodle Free

Today was a Doodle-Free day. A fun day planned just for Jimmy. I took the day off, actually traded since I had to work last weekend and some this weekend, so that we could go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It will always be Marine World to me.

Not to be an elphant's ass, but you know I pretty much can't post without complaining about something so here it is. Remember the good old days when it was ride at your own risk and you were responsible for holding onto your belongings? So I was really careful and only brought a tiny shoulder purse that could hold my money, ID, camera and park map. I had it carefully attached to me, wrapped over my head and one shoulder so that I could ride. It wasn't going anywhere. NEW STUPID RULE...Now you are not allowed to ride with any belongings at all. The Belonging Police kicks you off the ride. They have mandatory lockers you must purchase at each major ride unless you have someone who can hold your stuff. These lockers do not have KEYS. You can only get back into them once and then you have to buy it again. You can only leave your items in these lockers for 2 hours or you lose your valuables in it, so it's not like you can get one locker for the day unless you have a lot of pockets or want a permanent locker which are located at the front gate. You would be watching your watch and having to high tail it all over the park back to your locker in time if you kept your stuff in the little lockers by each ride. Irritating.

I'm just saying, today we had to purchase at least 6 lockers. Just one more way for Six Flags to make a buck. It's not like $12.99 for a Souvenir Cup is a good deal...Thank goodness my super nice and generous friend Jessica gave me a free ticket! Thanks Jessica.

So besides the mandatory locker rip-offs and completely but expected over-priced food, we had a fabulous time! Jimmy brought a couple friends and I think he had fun too. Jimmy and I both love scary roller coasters and neither one of us gets sick so we can just keep on going. I love that he's old enough and tall enough to go on big rides with me.

It's been so long since I've been to a Six Flags amusement park that I was not aware of this wonderful yet costly convenience called a "Flash Pass". It's a pass where you reserve your seats for the big, popular rides so that you don't have to wait in line. I splurged and bought a Flash Pass for 4. It was $82.00 well spent! We did not have to wait in the hot, miserable 2 hour lines. We got to walk straight up to the front of the line and ride. We never waited longer than 5 minutes for a ride. Because of the Flash Pass, we were able to ride so many rides. The kids, if they really liked a ride, would get off and just get right back on. We had it down to a science. It's the only way to go.

I let Jimmy drive the Go-Cart and I sat in the passanger seat. Let's just say that will never happen again. He scared the bee-jesus out of me and my life flashed before my eyes at least 6 times. Jim will be teaching this boy to drive and driving in the car when he has his learner's permitt, NOT I. I do not have the stomach or blood pressure for it.

We also saw the Shoaka the Killer Whale show. She wasn't cooperating with her trainers. They had to give her a time out. The water rides were fun too. We got soaked! 3 times!!! What fun to be a kid again. In the end, it was worth every penny. And, I've got some great pictures to scrapbook!

Needless to say, we're all exhausted. I wish I would have brought my pedometer so I could have seen how many miles we walked. Just the walk to and from the parking lot was a jaunt, I needed a nap before we even got into the park. It's hard keeping up with 2 nine year olds and a 13 year old jacked up on Starbucks.

Grammy and our nice nurse watched the Doodle today. I couldn't stop thinking about him and hoping that he was OK. I know it sounds pathetic, but it's almost hard for me to have fun when I'm feeling guilty for leaving him. He had 5 or so head-drop seizures. Almost tripling the Depakote has not stopped them. I'm wondering if we need to switch medications again.