I took Neko to an amusement park today. We took her last year when she was 3 years old, 36″ and a disaster by 1pm. This year she was 4 years old, 40″ and we pushed through from 10am until 5pm. All of you that have young kids and wonder when you’ll be able to do “real things” with your kids, the answer is age four. It’s awesome. They get that it’s a special event, they’re thrilled to be there, and when you don’t get a nap they don’t fall apart. As I walked past hoards of families pushing strollers full of screaming toddlers and babies, I knew we made the right decision to leave Shep and Ellery at home.
At 40″ you are catapulted into a whole new category of rides. You can finally ride the “big” roller coaster. Okay, it’s not really big, but it does have one really good hill. Neko? Loved it. I think we rode it 20 times. Thanks to the strangely empty park, we barely had to wait in line for anything. We rode almost everything she could ride, but we always ended up back on that roller coaster. By the end of the day she was telling eight-year-olds how they shoudln’t be scared because this ride was really not that scary.
Another highlight was the gift shop where she discovered stuffed versions of the Wonder Pets. I played the role of mean mother and told her we couldn’t get them and then immediately scribbled it down on the Xmas list.
But the thing she remembered most (other than the roller coaster) was meeting Blue from Blue’s Clues. We met her on the way out to the car so I could pump. All the way through the parking lot Neko was telling everyone, “Everyone! Blue is in the park! Blue! Right there in the park! You get to meet her!” It was like the preschool town cryer.
And then on the way home she drew this amazing picture of she and Blue (and Shep).