Living and Learning on the Move

(First off, this is a bit long and if you want to skip ahead just to the photos of the fam at Six Flags, feel free to... although you will miss some interesting facts - including the fact that the kids EARNED the tickets!)

     We finally made it to a Six Flags! Frank and I have wanted to go to Six Flags since we were so young! We've wanted to go since back in the day when I could actually ride ALL rollercoasters! LOL Now a days, I have to see if it will hurt my back first! Most of today I said, “You try it, and let me know if it will be easy on my back or not!” lol Anyway, Six Flags was a blast! The kids had a great time. We went from rollercoaster to rollercoaster throughout the park then headed over to the waterpark! I used to LOVE rollercoasters! I especially loved upside down loop to loop rollercoasters! Unfortunately, about twelve years ago, I was with my husband on my favorite local upside down rollercoaster, which had two loops. As we were going up the gigantic first hill (right before a loop), I checked the seat belt restraint (bars that go over your head and across your stomach) and it went straight up in the air!!! I tried getting my husband’s attention since he was right next to me but the rollercoaster was SO loud he couldn't hear me (let alone trying to get any attendant’s attention since we were already on our way up the first hill). I also couldn't reach him either around my seat edge!!! Since I’m still here, I obviously got his attention, thank goodness! He saw my restraint up above my head and slammed it tight up against me right as we got to the top of the hill (before we went down and into the loop)! So, needless to say, ever since then I've been a bit traumatized when it comes to rollercoasters! So, now that I have kids and while I’m in line for a rollercoaster, thoughts go through my head… hmmm… is it worth the fun of the rollercoaster for my kids to possibly lose their mom? LOL! Then, my kids are saying come on mom, ride the rollercoaster with me! I feel so bad that I’m sooooo scared to ride them! That’s on top of the fact that it might possibly hurt my back. That’s a whole other discussion of how I hate that I can’t do all the things that I used to be able to do, or be able to be the hands-on mom that I used to be able to be!

     Anyway, it’s not all about me; it's about the kids, what they did to earn this day, and the fun we had today! :) First, the kids EARNED this amusement trip today by reading books! Can you believe it? They earned all of this fun by reading books! Six Flags has this program called Read To Succeed. All you have to do is read so many books each week and document it. It is submitted to Six Flags by either a public/private school teacher or a homeschool teacher. Once the information is submitted and it is verified that you have met the requirements, you get a FREE ticket to the Six Flags of your choice for each child that completed the requirements along with ONE teacher (even one homeschool teacher)! So, this trip was an awesome earned trip for the kids and very cheap entertainment for us! We only had to buy one adult ticket to complete this fun! I did have to do a lot of watching today because the rollercoasters were a bit on the extreme side; but, that’s okay! I enjoyed every minute watching my kids having a great time (even my big kid Frank)! Toward the end of riding the rides (before heading to the water park, it began to rain! Kristi was extremely disappointed because we had just told her that she could try this interesting game along the concession area! She wanted to try this thing where they had a ladder tied up and you just had to balance on the ladder (without using your knees or legs on the bars) and make it to the second to the top rung and ring the bell! Kristi and Brad thought for sure they could do it! Mom encouraged them too, telling them how balanced they were in life! :) Unfortunately, since it was raining they shut it down and we had to wait for it to quit raining. So we bought some dot ice cream and some fries and waited! It was still raining so the kids tried the Tower of Doom for a second or third time (which is like the Shooting Star or whatever that straight up one is at Adventureland... lol)! By the time we were done with all that, it quit raining; but, for safety purposes, they said we had to wait another twenty minutes for the equipment to dry off. We waited some more. They didn't quite make it to the top but they had a pretty good time trying to get up there!

     After all the rollercoasters were ridden at least once, if not more, we moved onto the water park! I was so happy when we finally got to the water park! I could get into the water and just relax! R.E.L.A.X. We all grabbed a tube and got into the lazy river just glided around the lazy pool once and then the kids were ready to take off and GO! LOL! So, as a family we went to the wave pool and enjoyed the waves for a while! This was the first time the kids could remember being in a wave pool so they had a lot of fun with it! They only have the waves going for a short time then a fifteen minute break then a short time and a break and so forth. After riding the waves the kids were ready to try some of the water slides! So off they went! Since the water slides are right in the middle of the lazy river, we let them buddy up and go to the slides while Frank and I enjoyed some alone down time around the lazy river a few quite a few more times! :)

     As the day winded down and we knew it was time to head home and take care of responsibilities (yes, we haven’t forgotten about Christian!), the kids were not quite happy that it was time to go! They wanted to try this one more time and that just one more time… how about just one more ride! No, no, no… but how about a funnel cake instead? It was a deal! :)  Overall, we had a great time! The guys were VERY beat up from the rides though. For all those that loved the pictures of the rides that I put on Facebook, both Frank and Brad said, “Although they were fun, they weren't smooth riding at all. It was neat that they had different types of rides (i.e., stand up, laying on your back, speed, etc.); but, the majority of them beat up your head back and forth or were very jerky. From our time around the United States, Frank and the kids have ridden lots of rides and have found a lot smoother rides. They would prefer to try other parks including other Six Flags to see if they have smoother rides. None-the-less, it was an action-packed tiring day.  

     We were pretty excited to go to George Washington’s Birthplace. Unfortunately, when we got there we found out the house had burned down when he was three years old. So, he only lived there until he was three, then he moved because his parents decided not to rebuild. His family moved six miles away in a log cabin. We did learn some interesting facts though!

- They showed us the Washington Coat of Arms and how there were specific items from the coat of arms on the Washington DC license plates. We were especially interested in his coat of arms because we had recently learned about our coat of arms in our schooling.   :)

- He inherited ten slaves & some land from his dad when he passed away (George was only 11 years old.

- Brad noticed that the buildings weren't true to their times/originals because they had plug-ins and air conditioning!

- He inherited more than half his slaves (he had approx. 300) when he married Martha.

- I was amazed that any of this was here because everywhere I look I hear about him at Mt. Vernon. Well, he eventually inherited Mt. Vernon from his brother (where he wanted to be buried and was).

- We also learned about guinea foals! They look like they are part turkey and part quail but were around a lot back then.

     We've read many books about the great George Washington so we are always interested in learning more. We were a little let down to hear about him owning slaves. When we were in the kitchen and saw a very small bed that 5 slaves were expected to live in, the kids asked the reenactor if they knew when slavery started and a few other questions and unfortunately she was new and didn't have any idea. We were reminded that was how things were back then. (We kind of wondered if slavery started when colonists arrived in Jamestown or if it predated Jamestown.) It did bring about a class in learning more about slavery and lack of civil rights from that time. I’m glad that we have evolved in humanity since that time! :)  Overall, we are continually reminded what a strong and courageous man the first president of the United States is in all he did throughout his life.

     We are also loving that there is sooooo much history on the east coast! There is so much to see and do and learn here! Hopefully Stacey’s back will hold up (we usually take a little time off in between or explore a little while she rests back up) and we can continue to explore the east coast and learn all we can while we are here! Look for more blog posts! :)