Amusement

When I was little, Bland's Park seemed so big. Huge. I remember running - shoelaces untied and hair in shambles - from Space Odyssey over to the wooden roller coaster; that run took days and left me laughing and winded. I was there today. It's fifty yards, maybe.

The ponies and the ferris wheel are gone, but everything else looks exactly the same... only smaller. Good thing Mase is small, or I would have sworn the world shrunk or I grew or something equally as crazy happened when I stepped out of the car this afternoon.

After a quick lunch, we hit up the kiddie rides. Mason, who has ridden on nothing but my shoulders while I pretend to be a kangaroo, was unsure about his first ever amusement park ride - the boats.

It took about 2.5 laps (about 16 seconds) for Mase to smile.

After the boats, he was an old pro. He rode Dumbo (by himself!):


the Ninja Turtle roller coaster:


the Dizzy Dragons:

the firetruck:


and the old cars, which were his favorite, by far:

Oh, and the carousel, of course:

After the rides, we headed over to the water park. We'd been there before - a few weeks ago with Aimee and Madelynn - but Mase wasn't walking yet so I had to carry him around the water. Today though, the kid wanted to go. He wanted to run and swim and slide whether I was ready or not. So that's what we did.

I must be crazy, because I can't wait until he's old enough to beg me for cotton candy. Do they make sugar-free cotton candy?