Oh, the screams of terror! (in a good way!)

(warning: super long blog post ahead. Condensed version is 2 paragraphs below)

Thursday night, my parents and I were sitting around being lazy, watching TV, when my dad got a call from his sister, Jay. Her husband, my uncle Matt, had won 4 tickets to Six Flags! He called into a radio show, and answered some question because he’s super smart! So, they invited my dad and I to go with them! I’ve never been so grateful to have really intelligent relatives.

If you would like the short version of this very long story, here it is: We went to some place, rode some rollercoasters and scary stuff, held sleeping babies, got really wet, lost stuff, and didn’t have Owl City to listen to on the way home.

Now, that’s over. If you’d like the full version, here it is!
So, we found ourselves at the Six Flags gate at about 5:30 (PM, definitely not AM) yesterday. My aunt and uncle have 2 little kids: Vee, who is like, 2 1/2, and then Morgan who’s… 8 months old? I don’t remember. Either way, my aunt Marianne babysat Vee, and we brought Morgan and just passed him off between us as we rode the rollercoasters (so, one of us would sit out, then when everyone else got off, we would pass the baby over so that the other person could ride).

IT WAS SO AWESOME!

First off, it was a fairly nice day. It was sunny, but not super hot, and it wasn’t humid. Anyways, so we decided to go get a little bit wet, so we went and rode the Log Flume, which was fun. We quickly escalated from that into… wait, it was the spinning rodeo ride… Okay, that wasn’t that scary. Fun, but not scary.

Then, I think this is when we went on Yosemite Sam’s somethin’ something-I-don’t-remember-the-name. It was fun! Very nostalgic, because I loved that one when I was little. Oh, and it was exciting: on the way out, we were still on the boat and coming out of the tunnel, when we noticed something furry right on the side – IT WAS A RACCOON! Like, a real one. It was crazy! The urge to reach out and pet it was hard to repress. I mean, it was a raccoon! But, I fought valiantly with myself to prevent me from petting it. Sigh. I’m such a noble person. Plus, we think it must’ve been sick or something, because it was just laying there, looking around. And, there were really loud noises right inside the cave, so it seems like it would be spooked. It seemed awfully mellow for that situation.

After that I think is when we went on my personal favorite ride, The Flashback! It was so awesome!
For those of you who don’t know, I shall explain The Flashback to you, and we’ll see if I make any sense: first, you get in the rollercoaster. Step 2, the rollercoaster follows the track backwards, as it takes you almost vertical (there is quite a curve on it, but it still scared me to death). 3rd, it releases you, and you rush through the little boarding pavilion, and out, then you go through the whole ride. Then, there’s another steep incline like at the beginning, but this time, you’re facing forward . So, it brings you up, then it puts you through the whole ride backwards. It is awesome.

My dad and I got stuck in the very back (2nd row from the back, actually). We were up SO high! Anyways, so I had my eyes shut tight, was gripping my dad’s hand, and just freaking out. Sometimes, I’m fine with heights. This was not  one of those times. So, we’re going up and up and up, and my thoughts went like this: "Don’t open your eyes, don’t open your eyes, don’t-ooh, I wonder if Adam has posted on his blog! Wait, no, he only writes on Mondays- don’t open your eyes, don’t open your eyes…” (so, yes, my thoughts were interrupted by Owl City. It’s pretty much my life story right now)

My dad then proceed to marvel over the gorgeous sunset. He tried to convince me to open my eyes to see it, so I like, blinked open, and then agreed – yes, it was quite pretty. I squeezed my eyes shut, and began singing the lyrics of Fireflies to calm myself down. I began laughing at my own stupidity for getting on this ride. Sure, I had ridden it before, but I’d been like, 11. I was stupid back then! 14-year old me couldn’t trust 11-year old me’s opinion of things pertaining to mortal terror! What had I been thinki-

Then, it released us, and we rushed down the track, through the pavilion and through the ride. It was so fun! Once I got over the whole mortal terror thing, it was really fun!

My dad and I got off, and Jay and Matt handed Morgan off to us so they could ride. I put Morgan in his sling, and he snuggled up against me. Two words: SO. CUTE. Once Matt and Jay had ridden, they all wanted to go ride Mr. Freeze, one which I didn’t want to ride. So, I volunteered to sit out with Morgan. He was falling asleep, so it was gonna be easy. They went to go get in line, and I sat at one of the picnic tables in a nearby outdoor food court area of sorts, right outside the ride. Morgan fell asleep immediately, so I just entertained myself with my imagination (which, as it turns out, is particularly helpful in cases like this).

As it turned out, the line for Mr. Freeze was pretty long, so they were gone for like, 45 minutes. Luckily, I had a super amount of fun! I have my next 3 chapters in my novel planned, in detail. It got dark while they were in there, so it was really pretty, and really nice out.

The grown-ups had fun on the ride, too. They came out, and since Morgan was still asleep, they decided to go ride the Batman. I was fine with this, so they went. Unfortunately, he woke up about 3 minutes later. He was happy for about 5 minutes, but then starting being fussy. I texted them that he wasn’t very happy, and my dad said that they were getting on the ride, so it would be like, 5 minutes.

15 minutes later, they finally got back. Morgan was pretty happy, at least after I began telling him the plot of the novel in a very animated and dramatic voice. He now knows plot twists that only my best friend knows =) Matt says that Morgan’s probably going to go start a blog to post the spoilers. Man! I knew I should’ve been more careful who I told!

After that, we took the train across the park so we could go ride the antique cars. I drove my dad and Matt through, and did pretty good! After that, we did the Runaway Mountain, which is in the dark! *dramatic lightning strike*

We were crowded into this little cave corridor thing with everyone else in line, which was kinda claustrophobic. I felt like we were all refugees or something. The ride was really fun! I liked it. It slightly reminded me of my favorite rollercoaster of all time – The Aerosmith Rockin’-Rollercoaster at Disneyworld. Sigh. It was so epic.

After that, we decided to go ride the Mine Train. We were on the way there, when I saw Splashdown! Since it was dark and a teensy bit on the chilly side, my thoughts went like this: “I can’t wait for May 17th. The new Owl City album will be EPIC! I’m so exci- OH! Water! Let’s go get wet!”

So, we went on that, and it was so nice, because there wasn’t a line – AT ALL. It was getting late, and only crazy people wanted to get soaked this late. So, we got pretty wet. However, when we were walking off the ride, I decided I wasn’t wet enough. I wanted to stand on the bridge over the ride, which is the real danger zone. I was going to stand off to the side a little bit, but then, at the last second, I ran right in the full soak zone. So, for the rest of the evening, I was soaking wet and pretty cold xD

After that, we went to the Mine Train ride. It was fun! However, it’s an older rollercoaster, so it was abusive. It hurt! If you had your arms up, which seems like it should be a requirement (what person doesn’t raise their arms on a rollercoaster?), you got slammed into the sides of the seat, into the person next to you, and back into your seat so hard! I went again, because Matt and Jay were coming on. So, my dad took the baby and went to wait for us. It was fun, because I wanted to sit in the front. There was already a girl sitting up there, probably just a touch younger than me (she had awesome blue streaks in her hair, too!), but no one was sitting with her, so I asked if she would mind if I did. She said that was fine, so we talked through most of the rollercoaster. It was hilarious! The conversation went something like this:

Me: This ride is vicious! 
Girl: Yeah! **slams forward** OW! So, what rides have you been on?                                                               
Me: Uh ,**bump**, sorry. We’ve been on the Log Flume, Flashback, **slams into side** OW! Uh, Runaway Mountain, uh-
Girl: Ooh! that one sounded like, **slam** – oof! It sounded like fun! (**we enter dark tunnel**)           
Girl, me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! **emerge from tunnel**                                              
Me: Yeah, it was pretty fun!

She was awesome!

So, we rode that, then, the lady employee was really funny when we went to go get off.

Lady: Hey! Did you guys have fun?                                                                                                                           
Passengers: YEAH!                                                                                                                                                                       
Lady: Want to go again?                                                                                                                                                       
Passengers: YES!                                                                                                                                      
Lady: Haha… April Fools! The park is now closed.                                                                                               
Passengers: Aw….

It just made me laugh, the way she did it. I sensed it coming on, so I wasn’t too depressed =)

Matt, Jay, and I reunited with my dad, and we walked out to the car. Morgan fell asleep as we were walking. We had fun on the way home, stopping for some Taco Bueno, since we had eaten at 4, and it was now 11:15ish. We ate yummy food, and headed back to Matt and Jay’s house, where we had left our car. We were pretty tired, and thought our excitement was Over. We were wrong! We got to Matt and Jay’s house, and found out – my dad dropped his key at the park! We were trying to figure out what to do, when my mom texted and suggested that we just borrow Matt and Jay’s truck, so that we could drive it back the next day, and bring these big water-storage barrels that they had ordered. My mom has a key to my dad’s car, so then we could just switch the cars there. Everyone thought this was genius, so we went with that.

My dad and I were really tired on the way home, and I was depressed because my Owl City CD was in my dad’s car, and I’d been so excited to listen to it =/ Oh, well. I’ll have it back later today. I talked almost nonstop the whole way home, trying to keep myself awake ‘til we got home. It was like, 1 when we finally got home.

So, yes, we got home, I got ready for bed, and then, I promptly fell into bed and fast asleep. Then, I awoke this morning, and proceeded to eat breakfast, crank up my master Owl City playlist, write this, and wait for my parents to get up.

So, THANK YOU, Matt and Jay for inviting us! And thanks for letting me hold your super cute baby. HE’S SO ADORABLE!

-Kyr

The Castle of Magnificence Extraordinaire!

So, my BFF and I decided to open an academy together for NINJAS!

Ruffles had just gone to Utah for a week, so we hadn't seen each other. It is the ONLY explanation I have for our 'extreme' gangsta'-ness.

So, we rejoiced to see each other, we hugged, and then we went and played on the computer. Once we got the important stuff out of the way, we proceeded upstairs where we built a blanket fort of epic proportions - or at least, that's what we tell ourselves. Check it out!

Posting this video is my proof that I have no dignity. My shame? Lost it years ago, possibly at birth. Either way, it's been awhile.

Enrollment begins at some point in the near future. We're feeling lazy, so there's no telling when it'll be.

-Kyr

Park Day!

Yesterday, I went to a cool park day with my best friend for our homeschool group. Mind you, we were among the eldest (in fact, I might’ve been the oldest…), but we still had a lot of fun.

I’ve been developing an interest in abstract photography, so I took a lot of random pictures of inanimate objects. Seeing as this blog is for my ramblings, these are my ramblings in photography (and there are quite a few…):

Oh, look, that’s me looking pompous, whilst buckled into a swing, trying to take pictures of myself.

Oh, and here’s the elusive Ruffles:

Oh, here’s another picture of the elusive Ruffles (ignore my facial expression…):

Woah… Ruffles used her superpowers to switch places! Creepy…

Oh, here’s where we (from l to r: Lexi, Ariel, Ruffles, and Tabi… with me taking the picture) went to go find Mordor. We couldn’t find it. Oh, well. I guess destroying the Ring will have to wait until next park day =/

Okay… so that’s all. DONE! Hope you enjoyed it, because I had fun taking them! Weeeeee!

Eh, I’ll post again soon… fairly. Maybe…

-Kyr

(… if you’re really lucky, I’ll post again… or if I get bored… or if you pay me.)