It’s All Bigger in Texas
March 19, 2010
Yesterday I took the kids to the Texas Fair and Rodeo It was huge, just like everything else in Texas. It was also expensive. Once we paid our admission fee and wristband fee so we could go on the rides I turned to my children and said, “I hope you guys weren’t planning on going to college.”
And they were all, “No way, Mom. This is waaaay better than college.”
Actually I didn’t say that. What I really said, while I held up my wristbanded arm, was, “We will get our monies worth from this. We are enjoying the shit out of this fair. I am warning you, just so you know.”
And they were all, “Can we go on every ride?”
And I was all, “Oh you are going on every single ride. Whether you want to or not!”
This look says, Holy crap! What have I gotten myself into?
This look says, Why am I friends with crazy people who are LAUGHING and SMILING right now.
This look says, Hold on tight. Just hold on tight.
I am pretty sure that at this exact moment he was thinking, ‘AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!’
Miles, on the other hand, wept that he was not tall enough to get on the ride.
Again, ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!’ coupled with, ‘What the hell was I thinking!’
I know what I was thinking, ‘One ride down, only fifty more to go until we enjoyed the shit out of this experience.’
Here he watches his 10yr old brother and friend ride three more times in a row.
You don’t want to go back on?
No. I did it once. What’s the point.
I laughed. Because the amusement park thrill seeking is something you are either born loving or not. For some of my kids these types of rides are not something you suffer through just so you can get to the end and say that you did it. Like me with the Ferris Wheel.
No, for some of my kids these type of rides tap into something that I am clearly lacking. They love the adrenaline. The faster and scarier the better. They are thrill seekers and not just at the amusement parks. I watch their fearlessness with awe that they are my children.
Because I didn’t even step on that crazy upside down ride once.
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Totally with Fabio, what’s the point?
Of course, for me it would’ve been more like…what’s the point of riding something that will make me want to puke and/or die?
He’s braver than me by a mile.
Thank God for short preschool children…he and I go hang out by the carousel. A lot.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:04 pmWe did our annual spring break trip to the rodeo on Monday. Nothing like watching the kids go through the $3 funhouse 5 times in a row to make you appreciate the $15 wristbands ! It’s been perfect spring break weather this year!
March 19th, 2010 at 2:05 pmI would have been ok on that one but the ferris wheel? Not in a million years.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:15 pmLove his face in some of those…perfect thought bubble quotations hehehe. ALL of my boys have the love for adrenaline. It’s a blessing (money well spent at amusement parks) and a curse (ER visits) all at the same time. I think they take after their mama.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:16 pmFantastic photos. Makes me look forward to the start of summer in Canada. I love crazy rides!
March 19th, 2010 at 2:17 pmWow, looks like fun. I was born with that gene, but it morphed as soon as I found my common sense gene! I am OK with holding purses, bags and cotton candy at the exit.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:25 pmMy daughter has always been very small for her age. I took her on a roller coaster when she was about 4, and the entire time I spent thinking “This is way too much for her. What was I thinking? I’m a terrible mother.” She gets off and screams “Let’s Do It Again!!!”
March 19th, 2010 at 2:25 pmIt was the same the first time at Disneyland. She was barely tall enough for Splash Mountain, but she went on it about 5 times. Her older bigger brothers weren’t nearly as brave
I got a little queasy just looking at the pictures. My husband is one of those freaks that goes over and over and over.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:49 pmI am NOT a thrill-seeker by any stretch of the imagination, yet I LOVE amusement park rides. These pictures make me want to go to Busch Gardens so badly! In real life, I have a huge fear of falling, but I’ll get on the free-fall drop rides time and time again!
One of the reasons I keep coming back to your blog (aside from how your obvious sense of humour comes through in your writing) is the incredibly insightful way you write about your children, you see them so well, strengths and faults. You guide me in seeing the big picture with my boyfriend’s children, helping me to see the wonderful individuals that they are instead of getting bogged down in the day-to-day of raising them.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:53 pmThen there are the ones, like me, who loved it at one time, until the possibility of injury entered my mind. And you can’t enjoy another one again!!
March 19th, 2010 at 4:04 pmExactly! You wouldnt catch me dead on those things! Freakin scary!
March 19th, 2010 at 4:42 pmmy kids love the wild rides also. i liked them but never really loved them and now that i am old i hate any ride.
March 19th, 2010 at 5:31 pmi also ask if they have a non rider price.
We were there on Wed and spent about $100 on food, not to mention everything else. If you think that was big, you will have to go to the state fair in Dallas in the fall. It is about 10 times the size of the Austin one.
March 19th, 2010 at 5:50 pmMy kids are generally pretty cautious, watch other people first before you try it, in real life. But at an amusement park? They are all take my brain and twirl it upside down and sideways at high speed for as many hours as possible.
We had to pick friends to go to our local park very carefully — no asking the kid who wasn’t as crazy as you are, only pick the kid who will ride every ride with you!
March 19th, 2010 at 6:13 pmLooks like fun. I thought my son was missing out since he wouldn’t go on any fast or whippy rides, so I cajoled him into going on a semi-mild one. He hated it and was mad at me for an hour. I guess he doesn’t have the thrill ride gene.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:28 pmHahaha, I am the very same, some of my kids like these rides and I KNOW they get it from their father because I hate them fecking rides, they make me sick!!
March 19th, 2010 at 6:36 pmOh I used to be that person!! But I have since grown out of it
Now I have twin almost 5 year olds. One loves these types of rides and the other rides them once-terrified.
Some rides we will all three ride together, but usually not if it spins in a circle
March 19th, 2010 at 8:08 pmThat Spin Out ride looks like it was put together with Legos. I wouldn’t go on it, either. Then again, I’m prone to vertigo and I can’t handle too many rides….
March 19th, 2010 at 10:16 pmReminds me of the Arizona State Fair. I really miss it! Your boy reminds me of my 12 year old. He talks big and puts on a brave face but as soon as he’s strapped into that roller coaster, he gets the look of horror on his face. “Oh, crap- what am I doing, get me out of here!” By that time it is to late. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, I’m glad his sense of adventure and fun drags him around by the scruff of his neck demanding he try new things. But, how long until he finds himself sitting in a room full of junkies with a needle in his hand thinking “Oh crap, what am I doing, get me out of here!”. By which point it will be to late.
These things keep me up at night. *sigh* I’m sure I should be more worried about if he has clean socks or not.
March 20th, 2010 at 2:03 amWhat’s a funnel cake when it’s at home?!
March 20th, 2010 at 4:48 amHee, I avidly stay away from anything that might possibly produce adrenaline . . EXCEPT for amusement park rides! And my daughter can’t wait to go on all those big rides, but it probably helps that mommy is willing to go with her.
Just, nowadays, I look at myself and worry about the weight limit on those things. And after going on the Tilt-A-Whirl with DD about 7 times in a row last summer, it backed my sinuses into my middle ear and gave me dizzy spells for weeks afterward. Guess I’m finally starting to get too old!
March 20th, 2010 at 7:35 amYou’re such a good mommy, taking everyone to the fair and not losing one. And you don’t even feel the rides, either? You should definitely get points for that one.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:50 pmWhat the heck IS that thing??? I love me a good carnival ride, the Zipper for example, but that is FREAKY!! rides have certainly gone to knew and very scary heights. You have brave children.
March 20th, 2010 at 10:35 pmNew and very scary heights…not knew. Never again commenting on Lortabs…
March 20th, 2010 at 10:35 pmGreat pictures,
March 21st, 2010 at 12:51 pmI can’t wait til the summer starts here in holland.
Your pictures are beautiful! And I enjoyed the shit out of this post! I’m scared of all rides now. I want to live long enough to be a huge pain in the ass to my kids. I can’t die young from a heart attack on the top of a ferris wheel!
March 21st, 2010 at 4:57 pmMy one and only upside dpwn ride was The Zipper when I was 16 never ever ever again. My boys have their father’s love of higher faster curvier scarier.
I’m a chicken and I’m okay with that fact
March 21st, 2010 at 8:17 pmTotal thrill-seeker here…my fave of all time is the world’s largest ferris wheel in Odaiba, Tokyo… Something like 200 meters in diameter or some rot like that. Love the rides. Glad ya’ll are enjoying Texas.
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:26 pmI am the same way (except for ferris wheels. Love em). I cannot do amusement park rides to save my life. I can barely ride a commercial airplane because even light turbulence unglues me.
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:35 pmI’m amazed you were able to take photos because rides like that give me vertigo just LOOKING at them. Which is why I would never be able to get on one.
I used to have that gene but the older I get the less willing I am to scare the shit out of myself on a ride. It’s kind of sad.
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:00 pm