LAGOON!

So if you remember the Lagoon debacle of 2009 with Stella, you'll understand why we made it a priority to go again this year. My sister had graciously volunteered to bring Stella to Lagoon a little later so that Elliot and I could ride some grown-up rides. Moments after Stella arrived, it started pouring rain and we had to go home.

We took her back that night to ride some more rides and I think she was perfectly happy, but Elliot has felt guilt for 2 years. So let's move on to a new little something that we can feel guilty about . . .

. . . the first ride we made Stella ride was the rickety oldest roller coaster on earth. She didn't breathe for the entire ride. Seriously, Elliot looked over at her and she wasn't breathing. I knew I'd get this picture at the very end. I just wish it wasn't blurry.

We brought Sarah, Garrett, and my nephew Alex with us and Bill, Marci and Alecia joined us and brought us lunch. We tried to receive immediate forgiveness by putting her on the carousel and she seemed pretty happy for a while.

The other kids had a lot more fun on the rides than Stella did. The rest of the day was spent desperately trying to get Stella to ride the other rides. Sometimes she acts like she's so grown up and we all know how fearless she usually is, but I think that roller coaster did her in. She was terrified of EVERYTHING ELSE! It was another expensive mistake (see the Sea World debacle of 2010).

Once we got her on some of the really little kid rides, she warmed up a little bit.

She loved the swings, which was weird because it swings out over open water. That would scare me. The kids actually rode it about 4 times before the day was over.

Alex's favorite ride. Can't you tell?

Stella couldn't be convinced to go on the Log Ride because she does remember hating it from 2 years ago. It was actually Rattlesnake Rapids that she hated and got soaked on and then we just rode this one after. The girl is practically a fish, but doesn't like getting wet by someone or something else. So everyone else went, but didn't get too wet . . .

. . . until they added another adult to the mix.

Splash of the day!

And everyone looked like they'd peed themselves for a while.

I'm so glad Alecia was there to ride some rides with Sarah since Stella wouldn't do it.

Alex always tries to act like he's bored out of his mind, but he was really having a great time. He got along with Garrett really, really well. They connected on some sort of weird robot, ninja level that none of us understand.

Does that kid behind Stella remind you of one of the characters on Karate Kid that says "Put him in a body bag! Yeah!" Come on, anybody? Anybody?

We did some more kiddo rides as we tried to convince Stella to ride some bigger ones.

We said she could ride the smaller swings if she promised to ride the other pirate boat. She agreed.

Awkward, seriously nervous smile and wave. She was NOT excited about this ride. Until it started . . .

. . . then she was a happy camper! I wonder if she would have liked the other ones if she'd just tried them. Oh well, maybe in 2 years. And by then we'll have a nearly 2-year-old and we'll have to spend time on the little kiddo rides. :)