Callapidder Days

I’ve been attempting to be a “fun mom” this summer. My basic plan is to incorporate some kind of fun, kid-pleasing outing into every week. So far, we’ve done the Science Center, we’ve gone bowling, we’ve hit the pool. But yesterday was to be the biggest adventure yet.

We didn’t tell the kids what we were doing. But we loaded everyone into the car around 8:30, told the kids they could watch a movie in the back, and hit the road. They were curious. Dad was off work and we were heading down the highway first thing in the morning — what could this mean?

A little after 10:00, we pulled up to the gates of a family-friendly amusement park.

Confession: L. (4) has never been to an amusement park. That’s right: never. I know. We’re slackers. But yesterday, we remedied that situation.

Here’s a helpful tip for you. If you want to have the rides at an amusement park all to yourself; if you don’t want to stand in line for food, rides, or anything else; if you want to feel like you can wander through the park with plenty of room; if you want to ride the roller coaster over and over again…then go to an amusement park on a 95-degree day.

Yes, yesterday was incredibly hot. It made for very short lines, though. We figure other people either (sensibly) visited air-conditioned locations or water parks. Oh, we weren’t the only ones riding the paratroopers or the scrambler, but we almost never had to wait in line for anything. We would say, “Hey, let’s ride the Balloons” and immediately get on.

Which turned out to be awesome.

We started in kiddie land. Since L. had never been to an amusement park, we figured we’d break him in gently, let him do some of the rides that go monotonously around in flat, unadventurous circles. He was cool with that. After all, he didn’t even know rides like this existed, so he was thrilled to sit on a fake motorcycle and go in circles for two minutes.

The rides that go up and down were fun too. C. (11) very kindly went on the airplanes with him (even though C. is, admittedly, way too old for them) because he’s a nice big brother and was willing to help L. get the hang of things. Besides, if I had attempted to climb into those airplanes with L., I’m pretty sure I would have gotten stuck or suffered from muscle cramps. Or maybe both. So I appreciated C.’s cooperation.

Although, I’m pretty sure that as the airplanes went round and round, I heard C. telling his little brother, “You know, you’re a very lucky boy. Most kids my age would never get on rides like this with their little brothers.” L. was grateful, I’m sure.

Because there were no lines, we polished off kiddie land in about an hour, paused for hot dogs & ice cream, and headed over to the “real” rides.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how many rides L. would go on. I figured he’d do the carousel, the train, maybe the paratroopers, and possibly another tame ride or two.

I figured wrong.

After the carousel, the first thing we did was the roller coaster. It was a medium-ish wooden roller coaster, full of jerks and curves. L. insisted he wanted to try it, though, so we gave it a shot. Up, down, around, down, up, around, bumpity-bumpity-bump. Much screaming. Many grins. And as soon as it came to a stop, both kids said, “Let’s do it again!!” And we did.

We spent the next four hours or so riding everything we could. Any ride that allowed kids 36″ and up to ride with a parent, L. wanted to do. We rode something called a Howler, we rode the Spider (that one really makes me dizzy; I could only handle it once, though L. wanted to ride again), we did the Ferris Wheel, the train, the paratroopers, the balloons. We stopped briefly for soft pretzels, and again for ice cream. We did several rides multiple times.

And we attempted to stay hydrated. But walking around in 95-degree heat makes it difficult. And apparently, when you combine the heat, the spinning around and around and around, and the fact that I’m old, it turns out that I start feeling a bit sick and exhausted toward the end of the day. The kids were worn out too. After his second ride on the Flying Aces, C. announced that he was ready to go home if we were. L. wanted a final ride on the carousel, and I wanted one last paratroopers ride, but after that…we were all pretty much done for.

L. wouldn’t even smile for a final picture. And C. was looking a bit dazed.

So we headed home. And we all slept very well last night.

L. loved his first visit to an amusement park, C. had a blast on each and every ride (well, except for the kiddie airplanes, maybe), and Chad and I thoroughly enjoyed having much fun with the kids.

L.(4) never had much use for Winnie the Pooh.

He’s not averse to all Disney media; he rather enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or an occasional Little Einsteins. But despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t seem to convince him to give Pooh a try.

Maybe it’s because Disney got rid of the classic Adventures of Winnie the Pooh show. I’m still not pleased with that decision.

[They tried that slightly disturbing Book of Pooh for a while, and then the My Friends Tigger & Pooh. But really, they're not the same at all. The attempted modernization of Pooh just isn't working for me. (I must be old-fashioned.) And it clearly didn't hold any draw for L.]

I was particularly saddened by L.’s lack of Pooh because my all-time favorite Disney character is part of the Pooh universe: Eeyore. My loyalty to Eeyore is so great that I drink coffee from my Eeyore mug nearly every day.

I’m also fond of Rabbit’s propensity for list-making, Tigger’s exuberance, and Pooh’s “think, think, think.” But L. would have nothing to do with it.

Until recently.

While L. recovered from his recent vaccinations, I went rummaging around in our storage room, searching for DVDs that L. had never seen — something different and new to distract him from his misery. And in a small box containing DVDs from C.’s childhood, I found it:  The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Perfect. I took it upstairs and offered to get the DVD player going.

L.’s response: “No, thank you.”

Hmph.

But I was patient. And two days later, L. asked if we could watch “that Winnie the Pooh DVD.” Ah-ha — success!

I’ll admit, it wasn’t an instant hit. Pooh is a bit slower-paced than many current kid shows. And L. wasn’t at all sure what to think of Tigger’s zaniness.

But after a couple viewings, L. was sold: old Pooh was a new favorite.

And his favorite part of the movie is Pooh’s dream about the “Lumps and Woozers.” For all you laypeople who don’t speak 4-year-old, that would be the Heffalumps and Woozles.  L. knows their actual names now, but for the first 10 or 20 times, he referred to them as Lumps and Woozers, so as far as I’m concerned, that’s what they now are.

I had forgotten how bizarre and frightening the Heffalumps and Woozles scene was. I have a feeling many children have suffered nightmares as a result of these honey-stealing dream-creatures. But L. has taken a liking to them, weirdness and all.

Feel free to avoid watching this clip if the Lumps and Woozers disturb you.

I know L. will outgrow Pooh; it’s inevitable. But it’s nice that, for now at least, he’s enjoying an old classic, and I can get my Eeyore fix. And rumor has it that L. might even get to meet Pooh before the year is out. (Shh…I’m working on planning L.’s first trip to Disney World!)

But what about you… Who is your favorite character from Winnie the Pooh? Do the Heffalumps and Woozles bother you or do you find them strangely enjoyable?

Confession: I wasn’t much of an athlete in high school.

Oh, it’s true that a friend and I dominated the badminton unit in gym class one year. And I also held the school’s shuttle-run speed record. Oh — I was a cheerleader, too. (A very geeky cheerleader, as you’d expect.)

But that’s about the extent of my athletic prowess.

Except, of course, for bowling.

Yes, I was on my high school’s bowling team. (What? Your school didn’t have a bowling team? I’m sorry about that.) AND I participated in the school’s bowling club for four years.

Which made me practically a professional bowler.  With an average of 130 or so.

In college, my friends and I occasionally visited the lanes for a little late night bowling fun. Chad and I spent many a date at the bowling alley. I even went bowling with my future in-laws the first time Chad and I visited them together (at which time I very impressively bowled three strikes in a row).

But then, sometime after I became a mom, bowling pretty much ended. Babies and bowling alleys don’t go together very well. Besides, I was tired. Given a free evening, I’d just as soon stay home with a good book.

There have been a (very) few scattered bowling outings since C. (11) was born, but if we don’t count Wii bowling (wherein, by the way, I am  Pro), I’ve only bowled once in the past six or seven years.

Until last Thursday.

AMF bowling lanes has a very cool program — Kids Bowl Free. Yes, free. Well, you pay for shoe rentals. But at participating lanes, kids can pretty much bowl 2 games per day — free — all summer long. And for $25 dollars or so, you can add a couple family members to the program and then they can bowl free too. Needless to say, I signed up. The former inner bowler in me couldn’t resist.

So on Thursday, C., L., and I fortified ourselves with some Panera bagels, and then headed to the bowling alley.

We had the place to ourselves. Seriously, not another bowler in the place. It was great, except when a certain four-year-old allowed his bowling ball to smash onto the lane. Violently. Twice. I couldn’t look around as if it must have been someone else’s kid. There was no someone else.

L. was good for about one game. After that, he’d had enough. But who could blame him? After all, it took about 5 minutes for each of his balls to reach the pins. That would be exhausting for anyone.  It was okay, though — C. and I were happy to help him with his second game.

C. said he had a good time. He experimented with various ball weights, progressed from tossing to rolling the ball,  and was the first one of us to get a strike. He ended up with two strikes, in fact — very impressive, I thought.

As for me, well, it took a little while to get back in the groove. In my very first frame, I got a total of 3 pins. Yes, three. Total. And we were in a lane with bumpers (for L., of course).

I finished my first game with a 104 (which I totally didn’t count, because my ball hit the bumper *both* times in the tenth frame and obviously, they should have been gutter balls). My second game was a vast improvement — 149 (see? even higher than my high school average!). I probably shouldn’t count the full 149, though — I think one ball got a little help from the bumpers. So we’ll say 140. Still, not bad for a rusty old has-been.

Overall, bowling with the kids was a fun adventure — one I hope to repeat several times this summer.

Besides, you can’t beat the cool footwear.