Kennywood and other musings

Like many Pittsburgh-area families, the fam and I made our yearly pilgrimage to Kennywood last week. I'm glad to have gotten the discount tickets at Giant Eagle, securing an additional $33 in savings to spend on corn dogs and fudge.

We got there around noon and jumped on the first ride...the Kangaroo. Surprisingly, Budgie was tall enough to ride a majority of the "big people" rides and that was just fine with me. Less splitting up means less meeting up and fighting later.

As we walked past the Jack Rabbit, I noticed that the minimum height requirement was 36 inches. Budgie was tall enough to ride a "Big People's" roller coaster! He was so excited! We rode around some more and Budgie kept asking to go on the "rolley coaster". So we got in line. And waited. And waited. And waited. It was finally our turn!

Budgie, who decided that Mommy was his permanent riding partner for the day, plunked down next to me in the seat and was soooo excited. We hit the first hill. There was no sound from my child. Only a small, chubby fist found its way like a magnet to the front of my shirt and grabbed it. I told him to scream as we went down the hills, but he refused. Must. Be. Big. Boy.

Second hill. The fist wound its way tighter into my shirt and pulled me toward him. He did not yell, just winced. Up the incline, rounding the bend for the big rabbit hill. You know, the one where you go airborne? Yeah, that one.

We go up, up, up and Nev's hand squeezes tighter. He starts panting. I look at him and say, "HERE WE GO, BUDDY!!!"

Squeak.

Down the double hill we go...

**FLASH** Kennywood's opportunistic sales camera flashes and my son's face of a lifetime is forever immortalized on Kodak paper. And for the low, low price of $10, we are now the proud owners of a 5" X 7" of my son's first roller coaster ride. I handled that photo with kid gloves all day, placing it lovingly in a frame the moment we got home from the park. It's something I will treasure the rest of my life. It's an image of my family that is too perfect for words.

Anyone up for another ride?