Sunday, Inez and I took the kids to Kings Dominion...er, excuse me, PARAMOUNT'S Kings Dominion. Oy. I've been going there since it opened(coincidentally enough, exactly 30 years ago today) and it's been "Paramount's" for probably 15 years but I still can never remember to add that. To me, it's still just Kings Dominion.

Anyway, this trip was Lissa's third and Ben's second, but really the first time either of them were able to get the full park experience. Last time, Ben couldn't ride any of the coasters and Lissa couldn't ride many. This time round, Lissa could ride 'em all (but didn't - three of the them were non-operational for at least part of the day) and Ben could ride most.

They were very very excited about this trip but amazingly, I only heard one "are we there yet" on the way down.

EDIT: Song of a gun!! Know what I just realized looking at the picture? That boy isn't wearing his seatbelt. OOH! He's in trouble!!

There is not a roller coaster in the world I will not ride. And I found out that my daughter is a coaster fiend like her mother. You can see it in her eyes in this picture I took as we ascended the first hill on the Rebel Yell (that's the coaster that stretches from one side of the park to the other in the picture at the top of this entry)

And here's a pic of Ben on that same hill.

We stopped at one of those Guess your Age/Weight booths. I always do that because I don't look my age or weight. And sure enough, she got it wrong again. But get this - the weight she guessed? She wasn't off by just ten or fifteen pounds. No, she was off by over FORTY pounds!! This chick thought I weighed forty pounds less than I actually do! What an ego boost.

Anyway, we won a puppy for Susie. Here's Lissa modeling it for us.

We got the kids some cotton candy (cause c'mon, we all know that one MUST have cotton candy when one goes to an amusement park, mustn't one) and shortly thereafter Ben's loose tooth fell out. He said, "Mommy, the cotton candy rotted my tooth and made it come out." Part of me felt that it would be good to let him believe that yes, the cotton candy caused his tooth to rot right out of his mouth - might help keep him away from sugar - but I decided it probably wouldn't be a "Good Mommy" thing to do to mislead the boy.

Melissa somehow, against all my better judgment, managed to talk me into "riding" their "skycoaster" - Xtreme SkyFlier. Anyone know what a skycoaster is?

Basically, they put you in a harness and lift you up by a set of cables 150 feet in the air and then they drop you and you PLUMMET TO YOUR DOOM!!!!

So yeah, basically you free fall for a while and then you just kinda soar across the park for a while until they rein you in. It's a cross between bungee jumping and hang gliding.

I've seen this thing year after year and I've always said, "you'll never get me on one of those" but just one look from Lissa's baby blues and I was a goner. Man, I love that kid.

So I went and I paid my $45 (bcs this attraction is a pay per ride deal) and they told me to come back at 3:45 for our "ride"....so from then on I would look at the time periodically and annouce, "Okay Lissa, only 45 minutes until we PLUMMET TO OUR DOOM!"

Still couldn't get her to change her mind.

What's amazing is that she was so calm. I mean, she was excited to jump but she wasn't nervous at all. Me, my legs were shaking so bad I could barely stand. And then, as they were giving us final, pre-jump instructions, I was told "And when you hear '3, 2, 1 FLY!' you're going to reach back and pull this ripcord". I had to stop the guy and say, "oh no, hold up waitaminute, you mean I have to pull this thing?!"

So, yeah, the time came and they gave me the fly command and I reached back and pulled the cord (which was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do) and then we just DROPPED and I SCREAMED. I don't mean some wussy roller coaster scream, I mean a "HOLY F*** WE"RE GOING TO DIE!!!!" scream.

And then I started laughing hysterically bcs OH MY GOD what a rush that was.

Lissa, by the way, did not scream at all.

And Ben? Well, he just thought we were nuts.

But this is what I don't get. Lissa was all gung ho about this skycoaster thing but she (initally) refused to ride Drop Zone (the big orange tower in the park picture). Drop Zone is a 305 foot free fall ride. I told her to wait in line with me and if she still didn't want to ride by the time we got to the front of the line she could wait with Ben and Inez (neither of whom wanted to ride, although Ben did decide at the last minute that he did, but by that point it was too late)

Anyway, we got to the front and Lissa decided that she did want to ride with me but after it was over she said, "Never make me do that again, Mommy"

Ok.

Heh. We'll see. I plan to take her back at the end of the season. I gotta PLUMMET TO MY DOOM at least one more time (I want to get it on video)