Seven Peaks, Free fall and Daddy

So, we went to Seven Peaks again today. It's just something we love to do. And being that it's Saturday, that means we get to have Daddy come with us.

Now, there is just something about having a Dad at the pool, right? As a kid, we would go swimming all the time but it wasn't nearly as fun if my own Dad wasn't there to throw me around and play Marco Polo. I have very fond and vivid memories of running all over waterparks and even as a teenager, it was so much more fun when my dad tagged along - no matter what i actually said at the time. =)

Gavin, especially, was so, so, so happy to have Jace home today and come to the park with us. And Jace is good to ride anything. Unfortunately for Gavin, I've ridden those rides since I was a kid and I have very strong feelings about some of those slides... including Free Fall.

Yeah, we all know that ride - every waterpark has one. The one that goes straight down and gives you a wedgie you can feel between your ears. In fact, I remember I was probably about 13 the first (and last) time I went down that wretched orange slide. You're supposed to cross your ankles but I was too petrified to care and too concerned about plugging my nose. So, not only did I end up going down that damn slide spread eagle, but I remember seeing the crowd of attractive teenage boys at the bottom, laughing at all the scared, silly girls flying down that slide. After realizing that I had, in fact, survived the whole thing, I lay at the bottom realizing that the teenage boys were all still there and I had a wedgie that had increased the length of my butt-crack by about 3 feet. If I jumped out of the slide, everyone would see my rear-end and unappreciative of what was undimpled and firm at the time, I was utterly and completely devasted by this fact.

I wanted to die.

It was only by much prompting by the lifeguard that I managed to unparalyze my lower half and with a face that was about the same color as the slide, I somehow managed to unhinge my bathing suit from my neck to, once again, properly cover my bum. However, i was completely unable to look at anything but the filthy ground beneath my feet.

I vowed to never again ride that slide.

Gavin is sorely disappointed in me but his interest was peaked at the added mats they've allowed riders to lay on Face-FIRST to go down this highway to hell.

He was all about it.

He raced to the top and my blood-pressure spiked as my face was turned up directly towards the sky and my child's tiny face was peering over this ledge. I realized then and there that it is wholely unnatural for a mother to watch children fall from such heights no matter what support structure is supposedly keeping them safe.

He screamed with delight as he reached the bottom, matched only by my screams of horror. And as I grabbed him, shaking, I said,

"how was it? are you ok?'

"THAT WAS AWESOME! I CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!"

And he's convinced Aj to try it, too.

Next time, I'm not watching.