Trials, Day Five - Friday Fun Day!

Ahh, Friday is finally here. It couldn't come any sooner. It was going to be a "play day" for all. Along with the Six Pack, we took the kids along for a day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It resembles nothing of the old Marine World that it used to be. Rudy and I figured we didn't want to bother with getting a sitter for the kids and celebrate our 10th Anniversary, so we did something with the kids instead. Romantic, eh? Keeping each other company, passing off kids, refilling souvenir drink cups throughout the day and swapping stroller-tending duties off so that us big kids could get on a couple rides was nothing but pure fun, I think? Uncle Ben must drive 2O MPH over the speed limit because we were well ahead of them on the way there. We pulled off as we spotted an ATM and grabbed some french toast sticks for the kids just long enough for them to catch up with us. They did, and beat us there! After parking the car and lathering up with sunscreen, we get inside the park and try to meet up with the Six Pack. Poor Tia was sucked into Thomas Town with the kids that she didn't hear the 10-15 calls I tried making to her on her cell phone. (Don't expect to be able to hear anything when you've got Thomas-tickled-toddlers surrounding you and the constant noises of the kiddie rides drown out any cell phone ring tone). So, I figured we could meet up with them once she noticed why her cell phone had so many missed calls. Meanwhile, we run into Cousins DeAnna, Kevin, Gabriella and Alexander. Small world! They had just walked into the park as well. By chance we all ended up at a small dolphin encounter exhibition. This was at a dolphin's tank with two large windows for underwater viewing. After no hands were raised for lucky volunteers to help "signal" the dolphins, Gabriella raised hers and got to help out with the demonstration. It was really cute how the dolphins reacted to her "commands" through the window. Some great photo opportunities were there, but my amateur photography skills allowed for great shots of the dolphins, but crappy shots of the kid! Go figure. Finally Uncle Ben called us over to Thomas Town where we all gathered up and went about our day's worth of napless kids and thirsty parents!

I must say, the park was not too crowded at all and there were awesome photo opportunities with the characters as well as time to interact with them a bit. Bugs Bunny came along and no one was really around to pose in the typical "kodak moment" shots that every parent wants. Donovan went right up to him and gave him the biggest hug! Do you think I could get my camera ready in time??? Right! Geesh...I wasn't ready! I really didn't think he would actually fall into Bugs' arms like that. So I finally got my camera ready after Donovan had left the scene. Luckily, Bugs didn't have many visitors and Donovan went right back up to him. This time I had camera ready. But darned if we were sitting in the shade and the shot came out dark. I was so proud of myself for such a unique picture...even though you can hardly make out what or who it was!

Gabriella's Kodak moment. (apparently, not mine!)

Muscles everyone!

Bianca clearly thought this was her bed.

Rudy and Dominic get left in the dark, while Donovan
gets irritated at Bug's big cheeks.

The White Water Safari
(Top left, counter-clockwise: Rudy, Kristie, Bianca, Dominic)

Donovan's photo-op with Bugs.
(Thanks to Grandma Gertie, this doctored photo
looks a LOT better than it did!)

Ben and Rudy ride the Boomerang Coast to Coaster.
(They're in the last car, now at the top!)

Kristie and I ride Medusa. We ROCK!
(3rd car from left, Kristie's legs point the direction!)

"Let's do this quick Tio, before my mom sees us!"

Rudy wanted to be sure he received credit for the "butterfly pictures". He is quite proud of himself. He complains about my camera because his shots are horrible most of the time. I told him it's usually the operator that doesn't know what he's doing! I don't have his problems. Little does he know that of the many shots he took, I had to delete many of them too! The better photos are shown here:

We left the park in perfect time. We got to take a picture with many friends. (Notice Foghorn Leghorn coming up on the right. Bugs came along too! Oh well, they might not have fit in the picture.)

Thanks Ben, Kristie, Bianca, Sydney and Peyton for joining us!
We had a blast!