Houston Trip

Abby and Sam played hooky from school on Friday.  Will played golf and Gay was at work so Don and I took all four kids to Kemah Boardwalk for the day.  We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

Letting Sam go on the Wipeout (a very spinny ride) right when we got there was not our best move of the day.  He was a bit gun-shy the rest of our time there.

Abby, Olivia and McIver were a little braver.  They didn't hesitate to jump on the Bouncer.

When the Bouncer proved too tame for McIver, he jumped on the Drop Zone.

 It took him about 150 feet in the air and then dropped down.  He LOVED it - and did it about six times in  a row without even having to get off.  He was the only person on it most of the time, and talked the ear off of the sweet girl  working the controls.

Sam sat out Pharaoh's Fury, but the other kids loved it. Again, they were the only people on the ride most of the time, and were able to just stay buckled and ride it over and over again.

We had a delicious Mexican lunch at the Cadillac Bar and then found a photo booth.  While the girls were having their picture made, McIver and Sam hammed it up right outside the booth.

I didn't think the boys would be interested in having their pictures taken in the photo booth; but they were.  So, the girls had a turn posing with my camera.  They were so, so happy to finally be together again and just kept proclaiming what an awesome day they were having!

Then, THEN, McIver decided he was ready to try The Inverter.  It's a good thing I had not seen exactly what The Inverter did before letting McIver on it ... by himself (not that my knowing would have changed anything).  He was all buckled in and the ride started.  He went backwards from this point...

to this - perpendicular to the ground -

...to this - COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN.

Don and I bought a ticket to ride one ride with the kids ... Sam opted out again, but the girls were happy to sit with him and wait for us at the end of the ride.  We had a FANTASTIC day that will not soon be forgotten by any of us.  We hated that Gay and Will couldn't be with us, but we did what we had to do!