The girls love going to Bay Beach, which is an amusement park just minutes from Adam and Jenny's house. There's tons of rides for the girls to go on, including a Ferris wheel, carousel, train, the Scrambler, the Tilt-a-Whirl, big swings, a giant slide, bumper cars, and smaller rides for the little ones. Each ride is only one or two tickets, and each ticket is a quarter. We were there for about three hours and went on as many rides as the girls wanted and got popcorn and ice cream, and didn't spend more than $20. Here's a picture of the girls on one of the rides last year (I didn't take pictures this year because Jenny is a photographer, and part of the trip was Jenny taking their pictures for us in formal clothes in her studio and then in casual clothes at Bay Beach, so those pictures will come later). You might notice that Lydia is enjoying herself, but Audrey has a look of cautious enjoyment on her face and is firmly clutching the caterpillar.
Last year when we went, Lydia wanted to try The Scrambler. The website describes it as "Here is a fast and fun ride. Each set of four buckets twirls around and at the same time "shoots" out towards the outside. Everyone has a smile and a scream on this ride!" I was unsure at first. I didn't want to be stuck on a ride with a screaming child and be responsible for ruining her day and possibly her life. But, we did it, and she loved it. This picture is from last year when we went on it:
This year, Audrey asked to go on the Scrambler. She's a year younger than Lydia was when she went on it last year, so I wasn't sure. I suggested the Tilt-a-Whirl instead. I knew it was still a fast ride, but it just spun around, right? Not a big deal. She loves it when I spin her around. Plus, Lydia went on that one last year too and did fine. So, Jenny, Lydia, Audrey, and I waited in line for the Tilt-a-Whirl. We sat in our little car and put the bar down, and Audrey immediately got a look of concern on her face. You could see the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to figure out what the hell we were doing and what was going to happen next. I kept talking about how fun it was going to be to get her pumped up.
Then the ride began. The first time the car spun around, Audrey laughed nervously. Then I became the worst mom ever. As the ride continued to spin, Audrey looked horrified. Her chin quivered. She started crying. The worst part was that Lydia was between us. So, I tried to wrap my arms around Audrey and comfort her while Lydia yelled at me to get my arms off her. I felt so awful and helpful and just kept telling Audrey that everything was OK and it would be over soon. Finally, the ride stopped and I held Audrey as we walked off.
Audrey told me she didn't want to do that ride again. We went to the little kiddie rides and Audrey picked the caterpillars. I helped get her situated and went to watch and as the other kids loaded, Audrey broke down in tears again. She was afraid it was going to be fast like the Tilt-a-Whirl. I assured her and the guy running the ride that she would be fine, and once the ride started, she loved it. She was getting tired though, and on the next ride, she asked Jenny if she could just hold her hand, not quite understanding that Jenny couldn't just walk around holding her hand as the ride rotated.
So, we headed back to Adam and Jenny's and then headed home after a quick lunch. Audrey keeps talking about how she doesn't like the Tilt-a-Whirl and she cried on it because it was a little bit fast. So far, it doesn't seem that any damage has been done. Until she's 30 and in therapy and it all comes out that her mom made her go on a fast ride at Bay Beach and that explains all her insecurities and failures in life.
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