Six Flags, Markers & Wasp Stings

I love blogging. It's a beautiful way for this non-scrapbooking mama to keep a record of our lives and chronicle some of the things going on in our family. I love everything about it...except that I don't always make time for it. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things but might still be posting older things, just for the sake of getting them on here. This is one of those older posts that got missed during my I'm-too-busy-enjoying-the-summer-and-outdoors-to-blog break. :) Won't you take a minute to step back into the heat of late July with me?

Last year in kindergarten Henry received a free ticket to Six Flags for participating in a reading program. He had never been there and was SO very excited to get a trip to an amusement park. He had seen the rides from the road a number of times so he had an idea of what it was all about.

Sam stayed home from work with Jonah and Bridget so that I could take Henry and have a fun day with only my oldest. With three little ones at home and a busy husband I don't get a lot of time one-on-one with any of them, so this was something we were really excited about.

Henry was feeling pretty brave and wanted to start out on one of the BIG roller coasters. I led us through the small rides in the kids area, but Henry just wasn't interested. He wanted to go straight for the big dogs. So we made our way to the one he had his eye on...a huge old wooden roller coaster.

If you've been on an old wooden roller coaster, than you probably know the crucial tip that I had forgotten....they can really whip you around! So Henry was pretty much terrified after the first dip and tried REALLY hard not to cry for the rest of the ride. Turns out he didn't really want to ride the big ones after that. :) However, I was so proud of the way he handled it. He wasn't scared of the other rides and tried almost every one that he was tall enough to ride.

After a long morning/afternoon of running from one ride to the other, the carousel caught Henry's eye. He's not usually very excited about carousels, but this one is HUGE and he thought it might be fun. We were almost the only ones on it and Henry kept asking the attendant if we could ride again and again, so we ended up riding five or six times in a row. It was a great break for my little guy (who was getting quite tired but wasn't about to admit it!).

These old-time cars were Henry's most favorite ride of the day. We kept seeing them but getting confused about how to get to the entrance of the ride, so when we finally figured it out we made this the last ride. It was such a fun day and I really appreciated getting the whole day with just Henry.

When we got home, we were greeted by a couple of surprises.

The first was a blue-Sharpie-covered Bridget. Sam had left her playing in one place for a little bit and when he found her she had covered her legs and stomach, her socks, her little dog (Rufus) and a little bit of the edge of our comforter in lovely blue scribbling. She was quite proud of herself!

The second surprise was this one:

Sam got stung (on the INSIDE of his mouth!) by a wasp. It really was a great story....he had been practicing casting a new fishing pole out in the backyard. Somehow he got the lure caught way up high in a tree, and he started tugging on it to try and snap it free. While he was focusing on that and looking up (apparently with his mouth gaping open) he heard a strange buzzing sound....and the next moment felt the sting right on the inside of his top lip.

And being the stubborn man that he can sometimes be, he decided not to take any benadryl (even though he has had severe allergic reactions to bee stings in the past). So he was pretty swollen up by the time we got home a few hours later. His voice was funny and his upper lip and lower cheeks were huge. He finally agreed to take some benadryl, but by the next morning it had worn off and besides his fat lip his entire face was swollen! Even the bridge of his nose was swelling so much that it was starting to hold his eyes shut. Sheesh.

All's well that ends well and the swelling did eventually go down with no permanent damage. :)