Six Flags and Thunderstorms

This past weekend I took a trip to St. Louis, MO with my three kiddos. They were so excited to go to Six Flags. We were really in need of some bonding. It was great just having fun with the kids, not prodding them to clean their rooms, do their homework, work in the yard, etc. Instead, we had lots of kid friendly music in the car, laughter, snacks, and fun topics to talk about. I think I may have hit "Cool" on the mom meter!

We stopped in Sikeston, MO for a late lunch/early dinner at the famous Lambert's Cafe (home of the thrown rolls). I enjoyed the meal;the kids enjoyed catching the dinner rolls. Who cares that we had more rolls at our table than we could eat?

LiLi had fun playing on the wooden train outside of the restaurant. She thought they had cool grilled cheese sandwiches, too. YaYa and BB were way too hip to go anywhere near this train.

We got to our hotel room in St. Louis with plenty of time for more fun. The kids were all set to go swimming. Alas, the pool had closed on Labor Day. The kids were not happy. It was said that their mini vacation was ruined! Oh the drama of pre teens.

BB had a few milestones on this trip. As many of you know, BB struggles with Aspergers. He is responsiblity challenged....is that a term? He has issues with being responsible? Oh well, those that know him realize that he doesn't take the lead on things without lots of prompting. Well, my sweet little guy (he is now taller than I am) ordered a pizza for us almost all by himself. This is a big step for him. He had a little help from me finding the address of the hotel, but he looked up the number for the pizza place on his own, he ordered the pizza with just a smidgen of help from me, and he paid for the pizza when it was delivered. He was so proud of himself! We then ate some pizza and watched the dreaded Disney channel until it was time to go to bed.

The next morning the kids were eager to get started on their Six Flags adventure. We stopped at the local Denny's (right next door to our hotel) and fortified ourselves with some breakfast. Just as our food was delivered the sky opened up and down came the rains.

I think YaYa's face says it all. We hung around Denny's until the downpour became a nice misting and headed off for Six Flags. The kids were so excited to finally be there. They impatiently waited while I bought the tickets and we were scanned into the park. It then became a race to see which ride they could get to the quickest. The Batman ride won top honors. The nice thing about going this past weekend was hitting the park during the off season. Yep, you guessed it. NO LINES! It was still overcast and a balmy 60 degrees. I loved it. Back to Batman....We stood in line for just a few minutes before we were able to board the ride. The few minutes turned out to be just enough time for LiLi to figure out that she did not want any part of this ride. We were already there, so being the perfect mom that I am, I grabbed her kicking and screaming and plopped her onto the ride. I buckled her in amidst a volley of cries about not liking rides that go upside down, not liking Six Flags, being scared, I can't remember the rest. I felt a little bad because she cried the entire ride! I thought the ride was fun. I'll have to keep a close eye on her for a while to see if there is any permanent damage.

Luckily we were able to find rides that LiLi enjoyed. She built up her confidence and got on some of the wilder rides after first making sure that they did not go upside down. During the late afternoon we were deluged with rain again. By this time the kids had been able to ride all the rides and were ready to head back to warmth and dryness. We were absolutely soaked by the time we got to the car. We made it to the hotel and got out of our dripping clothes, grabbed something to eat, and settled in to watch some movies. This gave us plenty of time for snuggling, laughter, and much needed bonding and relaxing. Later, I had a milestone of my own. I let BB and LiLi go across the parking lot, at night, while it was dark, to the sonic to pick up some treats. They were so excited. I was in agony. YaYa kept laughing at me and telling me to chill out. You could see the Sonic from our hotel window so I made her stay at the window and keep tabs for me. You know, just to make sure a booger man did not grab my babies. I couldn't look out the window because I had promised them I would be adult about this. That is why YaYa was forced to do it. They made it back okay and BB was glowing. I guess he thinks it is a little easier to breathe without the apron strings being so tight! Anyway, we had a ton of fun regardless of the rain! BB now wants to go back for Fright Fest. Not this year, buddy!