Tweetsie

We have a friend at church who owns a company that makes signs and banners. Sometimes corporations will barter tickets to their events with him to get a better deal. Sometimes he takes the deal even when he doesn't want the tickets, although he does want the business. Sometimes he gives us the tickets he didn't want in the first place. That is how we ended up at Tweetsie Railroad.

The kids absolutely loved the day. Their favorite part was the train ride complete with a staged gun battle. We rode it twice, and Elijah was not at all afraid of the gun play. In fact ever since he keeps repeating "Gun. Bang-bang! Train. Choo-choo!" (Apparently we didn't need a speech therapist, we needed an amusement park.) The actors clearly ad-lib, and my cousin later informed me that they were likely all overbeveraged, which would explain a lot.

I, however, needed a Valium. I have a mortal fear of my children plunging to their death, so the chair lift up the mountain was a bit much. Jamie and Caitlyn went first, and Elijah and I followed. You are basically unsecured on that thing! Halfway up I started to relax and pull out my camera to document my calmness. Elijah started wildly grabbing for my camera and freaking out! Thankfully my talon like grip saved him from certain destruction. (The two of us took the bus back down.)

When I checked the weather report I neglected to factor in wind, but despite almost freezing we closed the park down. Caitlyn drove a car and accelerated right when Jamie stood up to take this picture of Elijah and me. Somehow he managed to not fall out of the car!

Beginning to feel that we might cheat death after all, I elected to allow Elijah to ride with Jamie on the Ferris Wheel of Doom and treat Caitlyn to a ride with me. The boys got on first, and the operator really messed with the wheel a lot, unloading passengers and saying "I've gotta balance this thing out." Gritting my teeth I waved calmly every time the boys whizzed by. Just before we were to get on the wheel lurched in the opposite direction. Nevertheless we got on as soon as the operator regained control. At this point we were the only four on the ride, and I sternly instructed Caitlyn that we do not move on the ride as the seat would flip. I did allow her to wave over her head to the boys when they would be behind us - mostly to prevent her from yelling at them when they were in front of us and causing Jamie to drop Elijah. I was most fearful when two maintenance men joined the operator and overheard him tell them, "Yeah, a minute ago that thing was just a 'flappin!" My mind screamed, "WHAT WAS A'FLAPPIN'?" But I remained calm as we managed to exit the ride without the entire wheel rolling down the mountain.


Yes, I might just end up a cool mom after all. You can see more pictures from the day by clicking here.