Cool Mom

30: Amusement Park

"I'll get the tickets." Daniel says, as we near the entrance of Knott's Berry Farm.

It's the weekend so we decided to pay his parents a visit and somehow, the whole family managed to take out time and now we're all at the amusement park.

"We'd been promising Morgan this for the last three months but couldn't find the time to bring him." Elana sighs.

"It's Hazel's first time too. Though, she won't remember any of this in a few years." I say.

"Morgan! Hazel! Let's go!" Daniel calls to the two kids who're chasing each other around the open area before the entrance. When they see the passes in Daniel's hand, they run back to us and take theirs from him.

"What should we do first?" David asks once we're all inside.

"We both are going to find a nice spot to sit and have some coffee, just the two of us." Daniel's mother says, emphasizing on the last part of the sentence and I smile at Daniel over her shoulder. We watch the parents walk away, holding hands.

"They're so cute." Elana coos, making us all laugh.

"We should do the Mountain Log Ride. It's still early so there won't be a long que." I suggest.

"Let's do that!" Elana agrees as we start walking towards the ride.

About three hours later, the children have ridden almost every ride they can go on under their age limit.

"Mommy, I want something to drink." Hazel says, tugging on my hand.

"Juice?" I ask and she nods, vigorously.

"Morgan do you want something to drink?" I ask as I lead Hazel to a little tuck shop, selling refreshments.

"Water." He says, walking over.

I buy them their drinks and then David says, "Why don't we leave the kids with mom and then ride the roller coaster?"

"I'm up for it." "I'm in." Elana and I at the same time.

"Fine." Daniel sighs and I give him an encouraging smile.

David calls his father and asks where they are, then he leaves with the children and the rest of us join the que which is quiet long for the roller coaster. David returns when we've reached the front.

"What took you so long?" Elana asks.

"They chose the farthest café they could find from the rides and the noise, near the water safari." He explains.

While we wait for our turn, I pull out my phone and lean into Daniel, holding it up for a selfie. Then we take one with all of us in it.

We hear the bell ring which announces that the carts have returned to the loading station. When the conductor opens the gate, Elana and David choose seats at the very end of the ride, while I convince Daniel to sit at the very front.

We buckle ourselves in then the hydraulic systems set in. A short countdown follows after which we start to move. We start off by slowing gaining speed on horizontal tracks then all of a sudden we're ascending and then we plummet down, faster than I was anticipating which makes me scream and I'm pretty sure that I hear David scream from the back too.

But before I know it, my screaming turns to laughter and then the ride slows down and comes to an end.

"That was fun." I laugh as we wait for the belts to rise up.

"No way am I going on a roller coaster ever again." Daniel says, starting to get out.

"You've been saying this since the first time you rode one." David says, walking over with Elana.