King's Dominion!

So... remember that beach trip we were gonna take this week?

Yeah.

Didn't happen.

Our friend ended up not being able to make it.

We were gonna go by ourselves, but then Maggie sold her car!

(Which is a good thing. But also means we lost our one dependable vehicle. And I was preeetty sure my lil truck was not gonna make it there and back).

 

We thought about getting a rental.

But because we wanted to go during the week, when the hotels were offering specials, we couldn't find any car rental specials

(which apparently run on the weekends).

Go figure.

 

We decided the trip wasn't happening.

We weren't too traumatized.

We'll go in the fall.

:)

 

But I did want to do something fun, something slightly roadtrip-ish...

... something vacation-y...

And on Wednesday, it hit me.

"Hey, Maggie, we should go to King's Dominion!!!"

 

She loves to ride coasters.

I don't, but I do dearly love carnival rides.

Plus, neither of us had been to the park in 2+ years

and probably won't be going this summer.

 

And then the twins seemed interested -

even more so when I offered to buy their tickets as a belated birthday present -

and suddenly we had a group!

 

I was able to get really good deals on tickets by combining a special with a retailmenot.com coupon code.

We left the house at seven

arrived at the park by nine thirty

parked right outside the gates

(nice!!!)

and proceeded to the coasters.

 

The twins had never been on a coaster before

and there was a whole list of coasters Maggie had always wanted to ride

but never had, because the lines had always been looooong.

No long lines today!

I don't think we waited a full hour for anything.

 

Our first stop (and the twin's first coaster):

The Anaconda.

 

 

 

 

 

You can't see them in the photo, but this is their car. :)

 

The twins looked a little stunned when they stumbled off, but they were game to continue, so we made our way to Flight of Fear.

 

I have been on this one

- one of the three coasters I've let myself be talked/coaxed/forced into in my life -

but I had no desire to repeat the experience, so I stood on the ground and watched over all the sunglasses, cell phones, and hats. :)

 

After they survived, Maggie deemed them ready to go on the Volcano

a ride she's always, always wanted to go on,

but never had, because the lines are usually 3+ hours long.

Today they were barely 1.

 

 

 

They all liked it, although the agreed that it was "tamer" than they'd expected.

!

Crazy people.

 

We began thinking about lunch - with all this crazy adrenaline and wild contortions, people's blood sugar had begun to wear thin, lol -

so we hiked back to the front of the park to eat at the Mexican place they had there.

It was nice - for $10 we all got a huge plate of food, free refills on our drinks, and air conditioning. :)

 

After reapplying our sunscreen (we applied and reapplied sunscreen aggressively throughout the day! I am determined not to get burned this summer!) we headed back to the square to ride some carnival rides - the Scrambler, the Triple Spin, the Avalanche (twice! we couldn't stop laughing :)), the Boo Blaster (for the very first time ever, I lost my #1 spot!), and the Flying Ace (a bigger version of this).

 

Maggie kept insisting that after a morning of riding coasters, the rest of the day "was dedicated to doing things with Sarah"

(she's a sweetheart :))

but

she underestimated my ride endurance, and after our stint through the family rides

I was done.

Plus, I knew there were more coasters they were itching to try out.

 

Maggie and I spotted a sign for fried Oreos at the same time

(I have fond memories of trying one in Alabama the summer before Khy was born, but haven't had one since)

and laughingly, they trooped off to try the Shockwave

while I sat below, eating my oreo, and watching.

 

Or, at least, that's what was gonna happen

until I found out that the Oreo place was closed.

So I wandered around looking at the different vendors, asking if anyone in the park was doing henna that day

(I'd seen some of the stands, but they were all closed up,

and I really, really wanted some ink on my skin).

One of the vendors I ran across tipped me that the main henna place

was over by the Grizzly

So when the kids stumbled off of Shockwave, we headed over there.

They wanted to do the Grizzly anyway.

Turns out, it took longer for me to get my skin inked

than it did for them to stand in line, ride the coaster, and get back.

Go figure.

(Btw, for the curious, I got this design on my left forearm.)

 

I had braced myself for staying until the park closed

which was 6:30

(it was the off-season)

but

after they got off the Grizzly, no amount of cheerful "What would you guys like to do next?"

elicited a response.

Finally, someone

(I think maybe it was Liz?)

ventured they if it was all the same to everyone else

they were done.

And once one person said the words, everyone else seemed to agree.

It was already close to 5 PM, so

we figured we'd gotten out money's worth.

 

'Cept that...

as we were walking out,

we walked right past the Dominator.

 

So.

You know.

We stopped.

:)

 

By the time we got in the car, we were exhausted.

Really hot.

And slightly dehydrated.

 

We pulled in at the 7-11 across the road

bought very very large bottles of water

Maggie's favorite road trip snack ;),

and sat in the parking lot for a bit,

just cooling off, drinking some water, gearing up for the drive home.

 

I drove the first hour

then we stopped at Wawa, where Allen and I got dinner

and Liz drove the rest of the way home

including a stop at McDonalds for me to get some iced coffee

which kind of went to my head

and made me giggle hysterically

and roll the windows down

(including the sunroof).

 

All in all, a rather perfect day.

 

The twins are growing up so fast...

It kind of takes my breath away.

 

I love them so much

and I want them to know that just as much as I love them,

I love spending time with them.

 

Pretty soon, there'll be jobs

and college courses

boyfriends

girlfriends

husbands

wives

kids

(oh, I hope lots of kids!)

requiring our time

complicating

(and, yeah, infinitely enriching :))

our lives.

But right now, we're not quite there.

It's just us

making good memories

together.

:)