Summer vacation is coming to a close for Christian --- the good ole days when we used to get several months off and complain when it was over. Long gone are those times, as adults we’re lucky if we take a week or so off over summer!! But as summer winds down Christian’s daycare closes for 2 days to prepare for the new school year. On Thursday I worked while he played around the house, and we took Zach out to lunch and they played there and had fun. An uneventful, but fun, day.
The real bang came on Friday when we joined up with Matthew and his mom and went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. I haven’t been to DK, well, technically – ever… It used to be Marine World… But even then I never visited the park in Vallejo. I haven’t been to Marine World since it moved in 1986 from Redwood City!!!! So, it’s been a long time!! Christian had been to DK twice, once with LFU and once with Brighton. Each time I think they saw 1 show, did a couple of rides, ate lunch and went home. They were fun, but being just the 4 of us and not a large group with time constraints we were destined to have a lot more fun…
If you know me or you’ve been reading the other entries then you know one thing I don’t like is rides! Okay, I’ll do small rides, but most roller coasters or most rides in general I do not like. Christian, on the other hand, LOVES rides. Thankfully Matthew’s mom likes rides and went with them on most. He amazes me at what he’s willing to try. But this trip to DK was not just for rides, we also wanted to see many of the shows and it worked out well.
First up was Pandemonium (formerly Tony Hawks Big Spin). A crazy coaster that spins you around while going through the track. Then we took a break and watched the Sea Lion show. Then came Roar – an old wooden roller coaster that rattle and shakes while you ride it. Of course, Christian loved coasters, a good way to start off the day.
We high-tailed it over to the Shouka show (killer whale), but Shouka didn’t feel like performing and just hid in her pools… So we were heading to get something to eat before the Tiger Show, but there were long lines so we walked to another part of the park for a bite --- but after a ride on Scat-a-bout it was already time to for the Tiger show!! So we watched the Tiger Show and then had Johnny Rockets for lunch (around 2:30pm)…
After lunch we saw the Elephant show where the boys got to play tug of war, feed and pet an elephant! Then went on The Ark and finally Christian got his wish! Matthew’s mom took him on Boomerang! He loved it!! We got wet while watching our final show of the day (the Dolphin Show). From that point on it was rides and more rides… Monkey Business, Thirlla Gorilla, a visit in the Shark Experience, Wave Swinger and several rides on Cobra.
We had various snacks throughout the day – I mean, it is the last day of summer vacation – frozen lemonade slushies, ice cream, cotton candy, etc… It was a GREAT day on all accounts. Next year Christian is already talking about going on Medusa and Kong!!!
On Sunday, checkout was easy but getting out of the hotel wasn’t. Checkout was at 11am and we checked out at 10:50 --- along with everyone else in the hotel. We did the TV checkout and went to hit the elevators to find out everyone else was leaving at the same time and there was a line for the elevators! Every time they stopped, they were full! I asked the people that were first in line for the elevators how long they had been waiting – 20+ minutes!! We gave up and walked down the stairs instead! Glad we did as we were down in 3 minutes without breaking a sweat!!
Then came the trip to Virginia City --- started out fine, then we started to go over the hills. As you should know I do not like heights – and that’s exactly what you go through when going from Reno to Virginia City – Geiger Summit. A 9-10% grade for the first third, a 5-6% grade for the second third and then another 9-10% grade for the final third. I was okay for a little bit, but then we kept going up and circling around and you’re noticeably going up. I thought about turning around and skipping Virginia City but then we reached the lesser part of the grade and I decided to muster through it. We made it…
Walked around and looked at the sites, went panning for gold, got lunch, saw the gun show, ate lunch and we left. I talked to someone in VC about the south path out to Hwy 50 instead of heading up to 80 through the same summit and found out that the height is not as noticeable. We went that way, had a good trip back with no problems.
While it was a bit stressful to get there, we had fun in VC just like we did in Reno.
Our first free weekend with no swim meet and no holidays!! School is quickly approaching and this is our last chance to get out of town for a bit. I think hard, where to go… Where to go?? The beach – we did that… The redwoods, maybe, but something more fun. Great America or something like that – I don’t like rides and that wouldn’t be fair to Christian. I had thought before of taking up to Reno to Circus Circus for the Midway, games and, of course, circus… So that’s where we go. I look into it a couple of days ahead of time, before I fully decided to go… Then I was feeling a bit under the weather so I didn’t book it yet. We’re leaving Saturday, coming home Sunday – I finally book the hotel Saturday morning and now the price has gone up $30!!! Oh well, my fault for being wishy-washy!
After a blueberry pancake breakfast and packing things up we head out around 11:30 or 12. There is some construction on Hwy 50 and we are detoured to head east on the westbound lanes of Hwy 50. Interesting detour, wasn’t too bad overall (time-wise).
We get there around 2:30, park in the west parking garage, get our bags and go wait in line for Hotel Registration… And wait… And wait… 30 minutes later we get up front. So the question comes up do you want a high floor or not, and with my fear of heights I first say low but then I ask what is considered “high” – I know when we were Las Vegas with the football team I was okay on something like the 12th floor so I said I would be fine anywhere below the 10th floor --- so they put us on the 9th floor! Well, I need to challenge myself and get comfortable, this will be good for me.
I was fine in the room, no problem – it helps when the parking garage outside our window is 6 or 7 stories so it doesn’t seem so high up. We were hungry, ate some lunch and then went to midway and circus. I admit it, I’m frugal. When we’re at a fair or carnival we never play the midway games – they’re a rip off. But we’re here to have fun and I need to let go so we can enjoy ourselves. I think I did a good job if I do say so myself –we spent time playing midway games and other games that dispense tickets to earn prizes. Christian was having a blast and loved winning things. We did dinner at the buffet (it was okay) played some more and went to bed around 10pm.
A great first day, lots of smiles. Christian fell asleep clutching some of his new treasures!
My plan for Sunday was to head to Virginia City but we were having so much fun at Circus Circus I told Christian we would spend a little more time in the midway, cash in our winnings and then head out to Virginia City.
By the time we were done Christian picked up 8 new stuffed animals (okay, 6 animals, 1 flower and 1 $100 replica), a bubble gun blower and a light-up aquarium.
If you know anything about our life you know that we stay busy --- all with Christian’s activities!! This fall will be no different… Christian wants to do so many things that I wanted him to understand what his week would be like so he can “buy off” on his activity level… I went so far as to put what is week would be like into Outlook (Calendar) so we can see it. Here’s what it looks like:
Yes, besides school, afterschool care and sleeping he wants to do soccer, waterpolo, a swim clinic (with the option of doing 3 swim meets) and scouts. It maps out rather well so it will all work, but it’ll keep us busy! I’m most excited to see how he does with a full season of waterpolo, that should be fun – I think he’s really going to enjoy it and do well with it. Of course the schedule has already changed a bit but we’ll make it work!
Yes, that's right, I finally caught up on photos! Okay, I wasn't that far behind, I just hadn't posted any to the gallery since summer started... So to check them out go to Family Photos!
