SUMMER 2016 OF LAGOON DREAMS

I think I might be ready to tackle my Lagoon stories. Our 2016 summer was truly the summer of Lagoon fun. Lindsey mentioned that she was thinking of buying season passes this year. At first I was still unsure. Even though the season passes are an amazing deal vs. a day pass to Lagoon, it still seemed like a lot of money to fork out at the beginning of my summer. But one day I was just like, ok fine, let's do it. And oh am I glad I did! I thought if I went like once or twice a month that would be worth it, but we went a ton and we had the best time, every time, period!

Our first visit was on Memorial Day with Lindsey and Asher. We got our official passes and we were excited at the idea of a whole summer full of Lagoon times. Highlights from this visit were:

• Enjoying the bumper cars together.
• Rocking it out on Puff.
• Stella being tall and brave enough to try Wild Mouse, even though she HATED IT!
• Getting the last raft on Rattlesnake Rapids and getting soaked while we laughed so hard.

Our next visit was that same week. Stella was already out of school, but Ava's last day was Friday June 3rd. After Ava got out of school I took just the girls for the evening. I wanted to hit up the park one more time before we went to Idaho for the first part of the month and while Ava was in Florida for the second half of the month.

Highlights from this visit were:

• Taking Ava on all of the new rides that Stella loved.
• Seeing the girls on the same rides that they went on as babies.
• Being so excited that both girls were out of school for the summer.

Finally on July 1st Ashley and Finn cashed in their passes for a fun summer. Highlights from this afternoon at the park were:

• Finn's first Lagoon!
• Finn was unsure and not smiling on just about every ride.
• Sharing our ICEE.
• Ashley got super sick taking Ava on Turn of the Century.

Finally after watching all the kids ride all day and wishing I could go on the big kid rides we had a girls night on July 18th. We had dinner on the way, and I was not feeling great in my tummy pretty much all day. But I was NOT going to miss girl's night. The night ended with me feeling pretty crappy but it was SO fun still.

Highlights:

• No line really on the Roller Coaster and so we did front row vs back row. I left the experiment with a headache.
• Getting to ride Cannibal for the first time. It was SO fun. It overheated while we were in line and Ashley was "secretly" happy about the fact that we might not make it. But we did and we all loved it. I left the ride with even more of a headache and a dizzy tummy.
• Last ride of the night was The Rocket, my favorite. It officially made me sick for the first time in my life. After that ride I was DONE. Park was closed anyway, so it worked out fine. 

Two days later we were able to go with the Durham crew. It is always so fun to see them when they come and visit family in the summer, and hanging out at Lagoon together was kind of the best. I was nervous about spending the whole day there because we were having HOT weather and we had been going only in the late afternoons, but it was so fun I didn't even notice the heat.

Highlights of our day with the Durhams:

• Stella tried the Log Ride for the first time since she was a baby.
• Stella also tried and LOVED Turn of the Century.
• I missed Suzy the whole time I was with her.
• Stella rode with me in the last row of Puff and her face as we went down the hill was hilarious. She couldn't believe how much more wildness was to be found on the last row. 
• Stella giggled and laughed with her friends all day long.
• Stella tried and LOVED The Bat, now it is one of her favorite rides at the park. 
• We stayed until almost closing and we ate at Chick-fil-A on the way home and it was pretty late. There was a lot of giggling in the car on the way home. 

The Booker kiddos were going to be gone for the first week and a half of August so we wanted to fit in a quick trip before they left, we went on July 26th. It was the first time we had tried doing a morning visit because I couldn't miss Zumba and Tuesday was the only day that would work. I loved getting there in the morning. The park was empty and we got so much done in the first hour we were there.

Notable events:

• Took Ava on Rattlesnake Rapids. We thought that Finn was too short at the time so Ash and I took turns taking the girls it was so fun.
• We all rode the Log Ride together and Stella and Ava were both so nervous because they thought it was going to be like Splash Mountain. 
• We forgot the stroller and my cell phone. Both issues ended up not being a big deal at all. 
• When it got too hot at around 2 PM, we just took off happy to have had a great morning.

This summer the Gummow extended family planned a trip to Lagoon. I talked Heidi into planning on going two days and enjoying one of those days with us and inviting her cousin Brandy to meet up with us as well. It is much cheaper to go two days so it made sense. The whole day (July 28th) was a freaking blast. We had the best time with our Gummows. It was kind of crazy as I realized how many things Heidi and I had done together, but we had never gone on rides like this since when we went to Cedar Point while on the trip where we met.

Highlights were:

• Fitting the whole crew together on the log ride and getting soaked.
• Riding Rattlesnake Rapids three times and meeting up with Brandy in line for ride two.
• Brandy was willing to watch the younger kids while we went on some big kid rides. Wild Mouse was a hoot, and I will never forget Catcher's face while he rode Wicked for the first time. He looked happy and surprised to still be alive, it was hilarious. 
• Our day went by too fast, but our last ride was the large Ferris wheel. It was such a beautiful night, and when we finally got off we learned that the ride operators actually kind of forgot about us, so we were lucky to get off I suppose.

Lindsey and I were surprised to find it already August 6th and we hadn't been together with our kids since Memorial Day. Getting the A passes with Lindsey was great. We never felt pressure to go together and it was easy to share the parking pass. 

Highlights of this Saturday evening visit were:

• It was insanely busy! It was our first Saturday and there were a lot of work parties and people in general. The lines were really long and we just had to get used to it. 
• After waiting for a very long time to ride Puff, we had to wait even longer because they had to clean up puke from the kid that sat in the seat in front of us in the turn before. It was kinda gross, not gonna lie. (In general, I try not to think about the Lagoon germs.)
• Stella rode the Space Scrambler for the first time and watching her ride that with Asher might be my favorite memory of all Lagoon summer memories. She was hysterical and loved it. 
• Stella also then gave the Tilt-o-Whirl a try for the first time too.
• Asher tried the Rocket for the first time and he loved it. 
• I rode Turn of the Century for the first time since I was a kid and I was so scared I was going to get sick, but I did fine. 
• We stayed until the park closed at 10:00, both kiddos fell asleep in the car.

On August 8th Ashley and I went for sister's night. We hit all of the big kid rides I wanted, we ran into my friend Liz, and we laughed a lot.

Ava and Finn were back from their long trip in Oregon so we had to celebrate that they made it home alive and well with a trip to Lagoon on August 11. It was a fun day and of course it had some highlights:

• The girls wanted to rock all of their spinning rides, and I was NOT allowed to ride the Paratrooper with them, because they wanted to be cool and ride it alone.
• This was the last time of the summer that we attempted Rattlesnake Rapids. This time we went ahead and took Finn and he HATED it. He was so scared.

Stella started school on August 17 and I hated that she was going back when it still felt like summer. I found myself looking at Lagoon pictures the entire day and feeling lonely for our favorite summer hang out. So on the second day of school August 18, I planned to pick up Stella and head straight for the park. Ashley and the kiddos were already on their way. We hadn't planned on going together, but when we got there we met up and had a fun time with them. It felt random and I loved being back in my happy place. On this visit:

• Finn finally decided he loved Lagoon. He knew what rides he loved and he definitely had an opinion on where he was going to go. 
• While Ashley went to the car to get his stroller he rode the baby bumper cars like 6 times in a row. He never wanted to get off. It was adorable. He was very good at driving his car.
• Finn threw his first Lagoon tantrum because he wanted to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl, and of course he could not.
• I rode on Cannibal as a single rider while the girls rode on The Paratrooper. It was fast and fun.

 

 The next night on Friday, August 19 we went with Lindsey and Asher. I didn't take any pictures, but Lindsey took two. I love this picture of me on the Turn of the Century because Lindsey's camera took it on accident and I am smiling so big because I was in my happy place. I don't remember much more about that night. 

Stella and I had wanted to go on a mommy and daughter Lagoon day ALL summer, but it never worked out. It is hard to believe after how many times we went, but we always had pals on our visits. So on a September 3rd Saturday morning we snuck down there after my Zumba class and had a morning with just us. The park was really slow and we got on the rides super fast. All of the sudden though around 2 PM I crashed and we had to leave so I could take a nap. 

• We had fun chatting in line together visiting and playing games. 
• I talked Stella into trying the Rock O Planes. She loved them until I accidentally made our cage flip totally upside down. I felt bad about that...kinda...
• The lines were so short that it was faster for us to go across the park on the ski lift rides than walk so that is what we did. We just kept going back and forth on those and they scared me a lot less now that Stella is bigger.
• I tried the Space Scrambler with Stella (again NO line) and I didn't get sick. 

On Labor Day we went with the Cutlers again. It was seriously so busy and I was shocked because the park closed at 7. We still had a great time though, of course. It really felt like the bookend to a great summer with Lindsey and Asher since we went with them on Memorial Day.

• Lindsey and I laughed so hard on the Paratrooper ride. We got a bit sick and a bit silly.
• Lindsey got Asher to ride on the Tidal Wave and then it gave Stella the courage to try it. She loved it. It became her new favorite ride.
• I finally got the courage to try the Tidal Wave as well, and I didn't get sick. It isn't the most thrilling ride, but I did win MVP on one of our rides for my cheering.
• We rode the Tidal Wave several times over and over again until the park closed. It was pretty great.

And finally our last trip of the summer before the park turned into Frightmares was on Saturday September 10th with the Bookers. We got a bit of a later start than we wanted because I had Stake Baptisms that morning, but we still packed in the good times.

• Stella took Ava on the Tidal Wave and they both loved it. 
• The park was the busiest it had been all summer. We got there pretty early in the morning and the parking lot was totally full. It made for some really long lines. 
• Stella also took Ava on the Rock O Planes. 
• Stella got the guts to go on Wild Mouse with me again and she decided that she LOVED it and couldn't believe she missed out on it all summer.
• After a ride in the teacups we were just done. The crowds were too much, but it was a blast. 

Man, so that is finally the end of our summer of Lagoon. You would have thought that the novelty would have worn off halfway through all these trips, but it really didn't. It always surprised me how often we went and did something totally new. We went 15 times! 15 times! If you figure how short summer is, that is kind of a lot. My tickets alone would have cost $839.25 for that many trips, and our season passes were only $100 each. Anyway it was awesome. We are buying them next year no question. And we still have a few more visits for Frightmares to look forward to. Fifteen BIG cheers for Lagoon this summer! Lagoon you treated us awesome.