I’m happy to report we all survived our Six Flags Great America trip unscathed. It was a super fun day!! It was the 4 of us, plus one of Ethan’s best friends as well as Ivan’s 19 year old brother.
Highlights:
- The boys are finally several inches taller than the 54″ minimum for all the big rollercoasters. The last time we went (I think it was 2018 or 2019?) they were too short for a bunch of them.
- They have NO FEAR either, anymore. (They have always been quite gung ho about rollercoasters, but when they were younger I could sometimes notice some trepidation.) No longer. Now- bigger. taller. faster. scarier. Bring it on!!
- I also was still able to handle the biggest and scariest ones!! Woooo!!! So proud of myself. Hahaha. I have always liked the big rides, too. We went to Great America every year when I was a kid, and my sister and I would ride them til we dropped. But…. I am now approaching 40 in a couple years! I feel like my stomach is a bit weaker than it used to be (I no longer really love that “stomach drop” feeling) and I think I get dizzy more easily. 😦 So I was a little nervous! But it was fine! I was totally okay. I just clench my stomach muscles on the drops now to prevent some of that weightlessness feeling. And, of course, SCREAM!!!!!!!!! hehehe!
- I am grateful that we ALL like the rides. I’m glad we have common interests overall, as a family. It’s very, very fun to just do it all together. I am glad I don’t have to be the mom sitting on the bench just waiting while everyone else rides. (Or- it would be frustrating if we all liked them, but then like just one of the boys was terrified and wouldn’t ride.)
- When I did feel little bits of “nervousness” (if you can call it that- more of “anticipation”, maybe?), I countered it by telling myself, “This is what makes life exciting!! This heart pounding/ heart racing feeling means something crazy and EXHILARATING is about to happen! Enjoy the rush!!! You are ALIVE!!” 🙂
It was HOT, though! Like ~88 degrees and pretty humid. We were dripping. Oh well, at least it didn’t rain. Blue skies and sunshine all day.
We stayed all the way until they closed at 9 pm. The boys couldn’t get enough.
We were sort of racing the 1 hour 45 minute drive home after, because a line of really severe storms were moving our way. Fortunately, we made it home with time to spare.
The exhilaration didn’t really end, because we then later got jolted from our beds around ~1 am to the blaring sound of the emergency warning going off on our phones (and the sirens outside). The storms had definitely arrived, and we had an actual Tornado Warning in effect. (Warning= an actual tornado/ rotation has been spotted somewhere near.)
I’ve lived in Wisconsin all my life, but those storm sirens are still always really creepy, especially in the middle of the night. Luckily it is actually pretty rare that this happens.
I was in a really deep sleep, but we managed to pull ourselves out of bed, grab the kids and get to the basement to take shelter. Fortunately, the worst of the storms missed our area, so we didn’t end up with any tree or house damage. It was all clear after only about 30 minutes and we were able to go back to bed.
I was still exhausted yesterday though, after the long, hot day + late night + fragmented sleep.
Do you like rollercoasters?? What about your kids??
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for not getting caught in any storms on our way home!! We were watching the radar but I was still nervous for a while. The highway stretch closer to home is mostly through farm fields/ wide open with no good places to take shelter.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Fun to see photos from your trip! Thanks for sharing 🙂
My uncle took me to Cedar Point once in Ohio when I was a kid. I don’t love rollercoasters that much but pretended I did because everyone else was having fun. These days I’ll just watch others enjoy, and stay behind 🙂
Have a great weekend Kae!
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You’re kidding! I totally would have pegged you as an adrenaline rush junkie. Can’t believe you don’t really like rollercoasters! Haha. I’d take rollercoasters over surfing with the sharks though any day. 😉 So maybe you get enough adrenaline rush that way. 🙂
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I do like scary sports and trying stupid stuff. But rollercoasters never felt great for some reason.
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I have to do Lamaze breathing on even waterslides. My childhood fave, the Tilt-a-Whirl, is awful now. Sounds like a perfect fit for your family, though!
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I used to LOVE the tilt-a-whirl, too!! But now anything “spinning” is the one thing I cannot do. I can handle the speed/ drops/etc. but NOT spinning. Yuck. Makes me feel terrible too. Fortunately most of the rollercoaster do not seem to involve any spinning.
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Oh, and I also don’t like the ones where you get just dropped out of the sky, like on the Giant Drop at Great America or the Tower of Terror at Disney. Not an enjoyable feeling to me at all, so I do sit that one out. Most everything else I’m good on though. 🙂
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I can’t do any spinning rides anymore! But I do like rollercoasters. I did NOT like them when I was a little kid. I went on some but mostly because I didn’t want to be a chicken. But I didn’t really LOVE the experience. I can’t imagine Paul liking rollercoasters ever but I am proof that you can change your mind about things. 😉 He is a very very very cautious kid so I think amusement parks are not likely to be his thing for quite awhile. We’ll see. Glad you guys had a fun family day out!
That storm sounded scary! Yikes! I can not remember the last time we had to go to the basement for a storm. It was probably when I was a child? We’ve had storm warnings, but no tornadoes close to use in all the years I’ve lived in Minneapolis!
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Oh, so much fun to read this post! (Well, not the storm-related stuff…)
I loved roller coasters as a kid but as an adult have had so few chances to go on them. The few times I have, though, I’m happy to say that I am the same as you – still exhilarated! I do love the random drop rides, too – I guess I like that tummy flying up my throat sensation more than you.
Super-fast spinny things, though, like the one where you stick to the walls from the centrifugal force and the floor drops out? That’s the only thing I can’t do. (FTR, tilt a whirl, merry go rounds, and swings are all fine… )
The sirens freak me out, too – I’d have to basically get in my bathtub. So, yeah. I try to limit the number of times I do that in the middle of the night but it’s been a LOT this summer.
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