We had a whirlwind weekend. On Saturday, we went to a local orchard to pick apples. P is the type who drags his feet when it comes to planned family events but once he gets there, he is totally into it. We started with a walk through a farm area where one can feed fat goats and whatnot. Then we headed over to the main building to get the scoop on the apples. A tractor-drawn cart transported us out into the orchard. The tractor driver would periodically stop and yell things like "Get off here if you want Macintosh!" We don't know one apple from another, so we just stayed on board until we got to a spot where everyone else seemed to want to get off. The trees were marked with ribbons. White was Jonagold, red was Red Delicious, and so forth. Well, P was bound and determined that we would find a tree with every possible ribbon color. We did find most of them, and grabbed an apple or two from each. However, the problem was that we tossed them all into the same bag. All we know now is that they're all red. My goal was to get some for eating and some for baking. Personally, I do not care for fruit pies. Pies and cheesecake are pretty much the only vices I don't have (well, except for smoking and illegal drugs, I guess). I'm more of a straight-up chocolate brownie kind of girl. However, I did tell my other half that I would bake something or other for him because he gets very excited about baked goods full of slimy fruit. He'd better fix my frickin' brake light in return, though. After the orchard, we went to an arts-n-crafts festibul downtown. P was less enthusiastic about that event. The kid made some sand art (which promptly spilled in my purse later on) and spent some time using sidewalk chalk to draw on the sidewalk. She drew a picture of me and also wrote "I like Mama and Daddy." For whatever reason, she is more adept at writing "like" than "love." I told her dad that in a few years she will probably be writing something more like, "I scarcely tolerate Mom and Dad."
Later that day, the kid and I traveled to the home of a friend of mine for a slumber party. We invited ourselves. You see, my friend lives an hour and a half closer to a major amusement park, and we had tickets for Sunday. I figured it would make my life easier to break up the trip a bit (I still can't believe I am planning to drive to Oklahoma with miss-aren't-we-there-yet). Sunday morning, A and I got up early and headed to the park. We got there just as the gates opened at 10. She was so excited to get on the rides. I was excited, too, but my stomach tried to stay in the car.
We started out with the carousel. So far, so good. Then we hit the first roller coaster she was tall enough to ride. I was a little apprehensive; it had been a while since I was on a roller coaster. I've always liked roller coasters, particularly old-school wooden ones. When I was a kid, I rode The Swamp Fox in Myrtle Beach about a skillion times. Anyway, I was game to try this one. I've determined that I just need to avoid rides that involve spinning or anything remotely close to a circular motion. With this roller coaster, we were seated so that I was in the back and my daughter was wedged between my legs, with her head against my chest. Well, as soon as the car whipped around the first curve, she was giggling madly. It was just about the cutest thing ever. As soon as we got off, she announced that we had to go again. And we did, too - we rode that same coaster right before we left in the afternoon, with two other coasters in between. She ended up riding just about anything she was eligible to ride, even choosing the front car on one of the roller coasters (right after I said, "Sure, sweetie, pick any car - just not the front.")
My stomach did make it through the day. I did make one mistake, which was to allow myself to be coerced into riding this big ship that swings like a pendulum. As the end of the boat swung high into the air and then back down again, I tried to focus on one spot, thinking maybe it would help with the nausea (you know, like ice skaters do when they spin). No dice. I thought a little snack would help my stomach, so we decided to split an order of fries and a Sprite. The price ($9.82) caused a whole new wave of nausea. Later, we stopped in a gift shop and the kid persuaded me to buy her a bag of magnetic rocks. Because if there's one thing her bedroom needs, it's one more piece of useless crap.
All in all, it was a good day, a good weekend. Listening to my daughter's exhilarated giggling on the first coaster made the trip worthwhile. And the minor bout with nausea, I guess. When we got home, I asked her, "What was your favorite thing about today?"
"The roller coaster that we rode two times!"
"Yeah, what else?" I asked.
"My other favorite thing was that you bought me those magnet rocks." Crap. I mean to tell you I had already unpacked and I cannot find those buggers anywhere. So, I quickly hopped online and ordered a set. I'm hoping they arrive before she remembers/notices she hasn't seen the others. The things we do, I tell ya.
