Six Flags Special Day

Before Cheryl, Jason, and Violet move to Arkansas in a few weeks, we wanted to have a Special Day with Violet. Violet loves to swing higher, slide faster, and spin harder so we thought she'd enjoy a trip to Six Flags. (For their Special Day, Cheryl and Jason took Juniper to the Children's Museum, aka "the grabby place." It's full of interesting things she's allowed to grab and explore, with no grown-up requests to put that down, don't touch it, or leave it alone.) Warning in advance that this is a longer blog post than usual. Violet had a fun, full day, and we want to share the photos and stories.





These swings were the first ride that Violet went on. Watching her expression change as the ride progressed was worth the full price of admission. When she first got on, she was a little unsure and nervous. Each time she rounded the circle and we could see her face, she looked a little more relaxed and then a little happier. By the time the ride ended the look on her face had gone from dubious to tentative to happy to joyful.







The kiddie rides at Six Flags are a veritable history of human transportation: horse, boat, train, hot air balloon, truck, and airplane.




"What are we gonna do next?" After the first few rides, Violet had figured out the program and knew that there was something good to come. She was enthusiastic about every ride we mentioned, even before she saw it. As the day progressed, she got better at anticipating the specific fun to come from individual rides as she watched them in action.




Aaron and I particularly liked the Toro Toro Toro ride because it was in an air conditioned building!




Violet just liked it because it was fun.




Lunch break! Violet did a great job of keeping up her energy, despite the 95+ heat. Aaron had the brilliant idea of instituting a rule that she had to drink some water before every ride (particularly useful, since Violet typically subsists on about half a sippy cup of water per day).




Tweety's Treehouse may have been Violet's favorite ride. This is the very junior version of a Freefall ride. The kids go up about 20 feet and then gently fall a few feet, go back up, and then back down.




Violet was great about walking all over the park - no complaining and no requests to be carried. By the end of the day, she was pretty slow (especially going up hills), but she did all her walking on her own.






The old-fashioned carousel was a big hit, even though Violet is too young to ride on the horses that go up and down. Check out the classic Violet crooked smile in the close up photo.




A friendly big girl on the carousel gave Violet this Bugs Bunny stuffed animal. Violet was appropriately delighted. "She gave it to me to keep!"




Up in the air on the sky balloons. This ride was especially fun because all three of us could do it together.




An afternoon ice cream break helped to give everyone a second wind.




Riding the sky buckets across the park, Violet was delighted to look down and see all of the terrain and activity below.






Aaron and Violet on flying boats.




At the end of a day full of exciting rides, a good reminder that simple things are also really fun. Violet had a fantastic time balancing on this ledge as she held onto the fence.

Thank you, Violet, for giving us such a fun day!