Monday, August 19, 2024

Day 1,795 - The Last Day of Summer

It’s finally here. The last day of summer. Tomorrow, Ellie and Ethan will begin third grade and kindergarten respectively. It’s honestly going to take a little getting used to for them to be back at school. That being said, they’re both excited and maybe a little nervous. The important thing for today though was to make sure that I helped give them a good last day of summer.

Last week, Ellie created a short list of things that she wanted to do before school began. There wasn’t a ton on it to begin with and we’ve been systematically checking things off. One thing that remained though was a trip to The Rush Funplex. Honestly, with all of our other fun activities that we’ve been filling our days with, we haven’t been to Rush much this summer. No worries though as we can go plenty of times once the weather turns cold.

There was one thing that we had to do this morning before we could head to Rush though. We needed to pack a lunch so that we could go have lunch with Bethany. As Mondays are generally one of her slower days in the office, it was the perfect opportunity for the three of us to go join Bethany for lunch. Therefore, I packed a lunch of chicken nuggets for the kids, a sandwich for myself, some apples, some carrots, and cookies for dessert for us to enjoy at lunchtime.

Before lunchtime though, it was time to head to Rush. We started off our time there in the bowling alley where Ellie and Ethan engaged in some fun arcade like games as they bowled. From there, we wandered over to the giant foam pit where the two siblings took turns flying off the trapeze into the blocks of foam. Our last event for the day consisted of laser tag. Lucky for us, the attendant was super nice and let me strap on a vest so that I could play with the kids even though I hadn’t paid for entry. If I’m being serious, laser tag had to be one of my highlights of the day. I loved sneaking around the course and trying to shoot other players while simultaneously putting myself in position for Ellie and Ethan to fire at me. Easier said than done if I’m being serious.


After Rush, we headed over to Legends to meet Bethany for lunch at DFA. While there was nothing big or special about our time there, it was just fun to watch the kids loving on their mom while telling her all of their stories about the morning. They also were able to get some big glasses of chocolate milk to enjoy as well which made them fairly happy. Unfortunately, we could only stay with Bethany for an hour and then it was time to come home.

As for our afternoon, it was fairly non-eventful. All we really did was spend a little time playing outside, watched a little TV, and made a quick trip to CVS to pick up some pictures. While nothing about it was super exciting, most of those things were what the kids wanted to do and I was not going to deny them the opportunity to choose what to do with the waning days of their summer vacation.

All in all, I would have to say that this has been a fun summer. It’s been super busy and feels like it has gone way too fast but it’s been fun. It’s interesting to see how much I’ve hyped this summer up in my mind. I feel like I’ve run myself ragged trying to make it a special one for both kids but especially for Ethan. With this being his last summer before school begins, I wanted it to be full of good memories. The weird thing is that with all of the build up that has been going on in my head for the last month, it feels like our summer ended on a rather tame note instead of going out with a bang.

However, now it’s time to shift gears and get ready for school to start. I’m excited to see what the year brings forth for both Ellie and Ethan. I know there’s a combination of nerves and excitement that exists in both of them. However, I believe without a shadow of a doubt that it’s going to be a great school year. for them!

As for me, I really don't know. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon enough.

#DaddyWrite

This is the look of a tired boy anxious awaiting whatever is coming next.

Day 1,793 - Find an Adult (and Go to the Zoo)!

Before Bethany and I had kids, our schedule was a lot more open. I’d say it’s that way for most people though. One way that we filled our time each week was by serving with the Wednesday night programs at our church. Bethany with the younger kids and me with the teenagers. Over the course of several years, I developed pretty close bonds with quite a few of the kids. Many of those relationships continue to exist well into adulthood for them which is cool to see.

I bring this up because I once had a parent comment to me just how important it was for kids to have someone in my stage of life (i.e. an adult who wasn’t a parent of a student) helping with the youth ministry. According to her, something about being an adult but not a parent makes one automatically cool. While I didn’t necessarily believe that at the time, now that I have kids, I see it and I appreciate it. While they aren’t yet teenagers like the kids I was working with, my kids already have someone like that in their life and I love to see it.

On Thursday, there were two agenda items for the day. Agenda item number one was to go to the Zoo and have a great day. Agenda item number two was to go to Back to School Night at Fox Hill and meet the kids’ teachers. If you ask me which of those two things the kids will remember longer though, it’d have to be our trip to the Zoo. I say that because our friend, Emily, was along for the trip. We first met Emily when Ellie was around two years old when she was part of the college student life group we led at the time. Since then, Emily and Bethany have met together weekly to talk about life and how God is working in them. It’s been cool to watch happen and see how their relationship has grown over the past five or six years.

Our original plan for this Thursday trip to the Zoo was actually to go to Worlds of Fun with Emily. However, I’m a scrub and had no idea that WOF closed for the season on Monday due to workers starting back to school. Lucky for us, the Zoo was deemed a worthy replacement to our plans for the day. Emily arrived at our house around 8:50 am and we all loaded up in the Traverse and headed to the Zoo.

There’s not a ton of specific animal-based moments that stand out about our trip to the Zoo (unless you count Charlie the gorilla happily picking his nose and eating his boogers). What does stand out though is watching Ellie and Ethan excitedly sharing their lives with their friend, Emily. They talked about school, vacation, games, TV shows, church, and everything else in between. What I like though is that it’s not just the kids talking at Emily. She’s actively engaged in asking questions too and wanting to know all about what they’re thinking.

It's obvious that as a young adult, I didn’t see the importance in having a young adult taking an interest in a kid’s life. I probably assumed that there were parents and grandparents around to do just that. However, now I see first-hand how much something like that means to Ellie and Ethan with their relationship with Emily and I just want to take a minute to highlight it as a really cool thing.

And yes, knowing Emily, she’s going to be totally embarrassed about me calling attention to it, too! All the more reason to do so, right?

#DaddyWrite

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Day 1,792 - Eye Exams Aced and Ice Cream Overflowing

I'm the type of person that sometimes builds up things to be really big deals in my head. For example, this last week before school starts, I want to make sure that I'm giving the kids fun memories that will hang with them for a while. The fact of the matter is that both Ellie and Ethan are young and therefore likely won't remember a lot of particular things or events from this stage of life. What I do think they'll remember though is the three of us having fun together, even if all we're doing is working in the kitchen like we did Wednesday morning.

The beginning of our day was based around one thing though and it decidedly was not working in the kitchen. Instead, it was taking Ethan to the eye doctor for an eye exam before he starts school next week. I realized most people visit the eye doctor because they're struggling to see. For Ethan though, we were just trying to get a benchmark on his eyes prior to beginning school. Not a bad idea when you realize that Bethany, Ellie, and I all require some degree of corrective lenses.

Like the great big sister that she is, Ellie helped keep Ethan entertained by playing hand games with him while waiting for the eye doctor.

One thing that I must say is that it's always fun to watch someone Ethan's size sit up in the big chair at the eye doctor while looking so tiny. For the record though, he was feeling pretty proud of himself to be sitting in it. Once his exam began, he pretty much knocked it out of the park. He did everything he was asked to do with zero complaints and followed directions to the letter. By the time his appointment was all said and done, we had confirmed that Ethan has 20-20 vision and needs no corrective lenses at this point in time. While that likely won't last, I'm certainly happy for him that that is the case for the time being.

After we finished up at the eye doctor, we had to make a quick stop at Aldi before we could go home. Why you may ask? Simple, we needed to pick up the ingredients to make some homemade ice cream just like I had promised the kids we would. After picking up some half and half, some whipping cream, and some eggs, we were on our way home.

Once we made it home, I invited the kids to join me in the kitchen to start the process. Putting a big pot on the stove to mix our ingredients in, I helped the kids measure out each thing individually so that they could add it to the pot before we mixed it all together. While Ellie and Ethan sometimes bicker during times like this, both kids did a great job working together and taking turns. Before we knew it, they had mixed all of the ingredients together over a hot stove and it was time to place our cream mixture in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to cool down.

Two hours later, it was time to start mixing the ice cream. I carefully poured the mixture into the freezer and then let Ellie and Ethan put the mixing tool and the cover into place. With that, Ethan hit the on button and the mixer started spinning. While the ice cream churned away, it was time for us to get our toppings ready. Getting out the food processor, Ellie and Ethan took turns unwrapping Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and dropping them into the processor where they were obviously chopped into tiny pieces.

Fast forward about twenty minutes and it was time to add our toppings to the ice cream. While I carefully scraped the pulverized pieces out of the food processor, Ellie and Ethan took turns dumping handfuls of Reese's Pieces candy into the churn. Finally, we had all of our toppings added and it was time to step away and let the mixer churn.

Here's where I share an important life lesson with you. Never take the recipe card for gospel when making homemade ice cream. Even if it says 45 minutes to churn, one should probably check it after 30 or so. As it so happens, I had left the churn going for too long and the ice cream actually overflowed out of it and created a melted, sticky mess all over our counter. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't take quite a while to clean up.

Later that night after a dinner lovingly prepared by Ellie (with a little help from me), it was time to taste our ice cream. Despite the messy conditions created by our churn escapades, the ice cream tasted fantastic. Not only did it taste great, but the kids were absolutely elated to have played such a big part in making it. It's just like I said; making ice cream was a relatively unexciting thing but it will likely help create a memory of us having fun together. That's not a bad thing at all if I do say so myself.

#DaddyWrite

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Day 1,791 - The Final Week Begins

It’s crazy to say but today marked the last week of summer vacation. By this time next week, Ellie and Ethan will have finished their first day of the school year. By that same logic, it means that I will have gone from being a stay-at-home dad to being simply unemployed. Actually, I think I prefer to say “between jobs”. Sure it’s been eight years since I last held a nine-to-five but “between jobs” sounds so much better than “being simply unemployed”.


Actually, the truth is that I’ve continually been asked one question over and over again the past few months. What’s next? Somewhat unfortunately for me, I don’t really know; I’m kind of in the midst of a relatively big shift in my life. That being said, I do sort of have a plan in store for the near future. I know that doesn’t sound very certain but such is the life of a substitute teacher. For the record, this won’t be the first time that I’ve worked as a substitute. It seems like a good option during this time of transition. I can still have summers free and also be available for field trips or if a kid is sick or has a doctor’s appointment.

Of course, it goes without saying that are quite a few hoops one has to jump through when working with kids. There’s the normal stuff like job applications but then there are other things like getting a substitute teaching certification and getting fingerprinted. That last thing is actually what I got to go and take care of this morning with Ellie and Ethan in tow.

Ellie and Ethan have been to a lot of various appointments with me over the years. I can say with the utmost certainty though that they have never been with me to get fingerprinted. Honestly, I thought that they might find the process kind of intriguing. Unfortunately, I was somewhat wrong about that.

When we first arrived at the fingerprinting place, it was fairly obvious that the kids were not in a mood to be patient. They were immediately asking when we were going to be done and proclaiming that they were bored. Now I realize that sitting in a waiting room probably isn’t the most exciting thing for a kid but I figured they’d be fine for a little bit. Especially after the front desk worker gave them fun-sized candy bars.

Real life experience of my kids

Once we got called back for fingerprinting, the kids became more interested in what was going on. They watched fairly intently as I placed my fingers on a scanner time and time again. The most interesting part to them though had to be when I would roll my fingers across the scanner so that it could take images of my entire fingerprint at once. Before that, I really didn’t realize that my fingertips had so many scars but it’s fairly obvious once you see an entire image of your fingerprint at once. For some reason, I had to have a picture taken with my head completely level as part of the processing. For someone that has a natural tilt to their head, I never realized how difficult it could be to keep my face completely level. Of course, it didn’t help that Ethan kept distracting me by trying to get in the picture himself.

Finally, we were done and could leave the fingerprinting office. As the kids happily skipped out to the car, I definitely felt tinges of both relief and sadness. Relief because we were done with the process of me getting fingerprinted and sadness because I realized that there won’t be many more times of me taking the kids to do stuff with me over the summer. Even if it is just something as boring as fingerprinting!

#DaddyWrite

Monday, August 12, 2024

Day 1,790 - Random Days Are the Best Days

It would not be a lie to say that it’s been a very busy summer in House Holt. We’ve gone on hikes. We’ve played in creeks. We’ve been to the zoo. We’ve been to World of Fun. We’ve been to the park countless times. We’ve gone swimming. We even went on vacation. It’s all been fun though. However, with all of those activities, we haven’t left a ton of time for being spontaneous. If I’m being completely honest, it’s those times of absolute spontaneity that gives us the best memories. Lucky for us, today was one of those days.

With this being the last full week of summer, Ellie has made a checklist of the things that she would like to have happen this week. It just so happened that the first thing on her list was to make homemade fudgesicles. Since that’s hardly a difficult request, once we got dressed and ready for the day, we loaded up in the car and headed to Hy-Vee.

Now, I am aware that there are closer grocery stores to us than Hy-Vee. However, those stores don’t allow me to surprise the kids with biscuits and gravy. The funny part is that Ethan has come to associate Hy-Vee with biscuits and gravy so as soon as he saw the parking lot, he asked me if that was what we were going to get. Leave it to the little man to ruin my surprise, right?

After enjoying our breakfast together, we picked up our box of pudding and checked out. Then we headed over to Walmart to grab a disco ball. Yes, I am completely aware that a disco ball is not needed for making fudgesicles. That being said, it is essential for dance parties which Ellie and Ethan love. They have been a little sad since my childhood disco ball broke leaving them with lights for their dance parties.

Once we found the novelty light aisle at Walmart, we spent a little time browsing before going on our way. You see, Walmart does not only have disco balls in the novelty light aisle. They also have a variety of neon lights that can be activated by pushing a simple test button on the outside of the box. As one could probably guess, the three of us had a great time testing all of the lights and identifying our favorites and explaining to each other why we liked it. Eventually though, it was time to check out and head for home.

Once we got home, before we could make fudgesicles, Ellie and Ethan became embroiled in what could be the most random activity ever for an eight-year-old and a five-year-old. They began drawing replicas of flags. It started simple enough with them choosing countries that they knew and recognized from the Olympics. Once they ran out of those countries, they began asking me for ones to add to their collection. Before long though, our entire table was littered with various drawings of flags from around the world. While it is definitely a random activity, it also was highly educational so I can’t complain too much!

Ellie and Ethan present "Fun with Flags"

After lunch, it was time to make our fudgesicles and get them in the freezer to harden up. While it was hardly an arduous task, it still was a fun activity to do together. While I assumed quiet time was on the way after that, Ellie and Ethan had one more thing to do before that could happen. They needed to have a dance party courtesy of their new disco light. Accompanied by the sounds of the Bluey soundtrack, the two danced nonstop in their room all the way to quiet time.

While I know that our morning sounds like it was relatively full and eventful, it was actually refreshing to just sit back and let life happen rather than to go out and plan some huge activity to occupy our day. Honestly, by the time this is week is over, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that today was my favorite day of all.

#DaddyWrite

DANCE MODE!

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Day 1,787 - We Went on a Vacation!

I’ve been a dad since 2016. In that time, I’ve come to believe that I have a fairly good handle on what my kids like and do not like. For example, neither of my kids will eat jambalaya or shrimp scampi. I can’t believe it but it’s true. They routinely turn up their noses at both dishes. I also tend to be able to guess what kind of experiences Ellie and Ethan will enjoy. However, there are those occasional moments where my guess is wrong and I’m proud to say that one of those moments occurred during our recent vacation.

In a first for our family, we actually spent nearly an entire week on vacation last week. We left home on Sunday to head to Nebraska to spend the night with Bethany’s parents before hitting the road the next morning bright and early to head to our destination of Valentine, NE where we joined Bethany’s entire family for a float trip down the Niabrara River. For the record, that was not the part of our trip that I was concerned about the kids enjoying. Between the cool, refreshing water and the multiple picturesque waterfalls along the route, I was fairly certain they would both enjoy it.

The morning after our float, we were loaded up by 9:00 am and in the car heading towards South Dakota. For the record, that wasn’t the original plan for our trip. However, when we realized that Mount Rushmore was a scant three hours away from Valentine, it only made sense to make the trip. It also helped that my parents along with my aunt, uncle, and cousin were also making the trip. On our way to Mount Rushmore, we did have one stop to make first. Little did I know that one stop would end up being Ellie’s and Ethan’s favorite part of the entire journey and one that they are still talking about!

What was that one stop you may ask? It was the Badlands. When we made our first stop in the Badlands at the Door and Window Trails, I was more than a little nervous as both kids seemed to have a lot of trepidation when it came to climbing the various rock structures. If I’m being completely honest, I felt the same way. The already rocky terrain was littered with tons of tiny marble-like pebbles making the path more than a little slick to wander. Of course, matters weren’t helped by the fact that both kids were hungry at this stage. After a quick wander of both trails, we retreated to the visitors center and grabbed a quick lunch.

Once Ellie and Ethan had full bellies, they were much more willing to explore. In fact, we didn’t even have to leave the grounds of the visitors center before they were happily scaling large rock structures, trying to get as high as they could. My favorite area that we explored though had to be the Fossil Trail. The area consisted of an elevated walkway winding through rocky terrain and at any time, you could step off and explore the area. Our family spent plenty of time climbing whatever looked fun in that given moment and it goes without saying that the kids had a great time. They were fearless and trusted themselves well.


Eventually though, the time came for us to move on down the road to our lodge for the night. After checking in, we went ahead and connected with my family before grabbing some pizza at a restaurant on the grounds. Then, the four of us headed to the Kids Zone where Ellie and Ethan played on a playground and participated in a quick round of mini golf. Before we knew it though, it was time to head back to the lodge for bed.

The next morning, Ellie and Ethan awoke fairly early and were ready to start the day. Unfortunately for them though, our lodge didn’t serve breakfast until the relatively late time of 7:30 am. Therefore, we just had to find ways to keep them quiet until 7:30 arrived. Once it finally did and we ate, we prepared ourselves to head to Mount Rushmore.

Now, if you’ve ever found yourself in the vicinity of Mount Rushmore, you realize that it’s fairly impossible to miss. That being said, the kids were still more than excited to see it up close. Ellie wasn’t only intrigued by the actual mountain; she also was fascinated by the history behind it which could be seen by her excitement in sharing every cool fact she discovered about the mountain and the construction of the monument.

After we made our way around a trail which led us right under the mountain, it was time to load up and head into Keystone for a quick lunch before the driving portion of our afternoon. The first stop on our driving tour was the Iron Mountain Scenic Drive. Winding through the Black Hills National Forest, this trail featured plenty of switchbacks to drive around as well as tight tunnels to thread our Traverse through. When we popped out of the Iron Mountain portion of our trip, we found ourselves in Custer State Park. To tell the truth, we didn’t spend a ton of time in Custer. We basically just drove through it on our way to Needles Highway.

Now Needles was probably one of the more fascinating parts of the day. It featured three tunnels cut into rock that were probably tighter than any we encountered in Iron Mountain. In addition, one of the tunnels was guarded by a Storm Trooper who greeted Bethany and Ethan with a fist bump before telling us to move along. One of the final stops along Needles was Sylvan Lake which was home to a huge biker gathering. That didn’t stop us from taking a quick bathroom break and wandering the lake for a bit. For the record, Bethany would be happy to inform you that Sylvan Lake was host to part of the filming of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets if you’re interested in that sort of thing.


While we would have loved to have spent additional time in Custer State Park, we had to make sure we were back to the lodge by 3:00 pm so that we could sign Ethan up for Mutton Busting at the Rodeo. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly; Ethan was indeed going to ride a sheep that night in the Rodeo. After signing up, we rested for a little bit before taking the kids to play at the onsite water slide. Before we knew it though, it was time to head to the rodeo.

When we arrived, Ellie and I found some seats with my parents while Bethany accompanied Ethan to the ring for Mutton Busting. Ethan for his part was nothing but excited to ride a sheep. In fact, he was proudly proclaiming it to anyone who would listen throughout the day. When the time came for him to climb aboard the sheep, he wasn’t even nervous (from what I’ve been told). However, his ride came to a quick and bitter end as the sheep reared its head back, making contact with Ethan’s helmeted head, and tossed him to the ground. Then, for good measure, the sheep saw fit to stomp on Ethan’s leg, leaving a pretty sizeable gash across his leg. Like the tough guy he is though, Ethan stood tall and walked out of the ring alongside Bethany and didn’t show any weakness until he was back safe in the bleachers with his family. After spending a couple of hours watching, the kids had definitely hit that point where it was time to head to bed so we left the rodeo and did just that.



The next morning would mark the final day of our vacation. While we initially only had one stop on our agenda, the Presidential Wax Museum, we were beckoned by the allure of the Wildlife trail at Custer State Park after my aunt and uncle had shown us video of the 300-plus buffalo they saw on their journey through the park. Therefore, since the kids were up and ready to go early just like normal, the four of us loaded up around 6:00 and hit the trail. Somewhat unfortunately for us, we failed to find any buffalo during the nearly two-hour excursion. We did happen to find plenty of prairie dogs, deer, and even some wild turkeys. We also got to see a beautiful sunrise so that counts for something.

After eating a quick breakfast once we returned to the lodge, we packed up our bags and checked out, being sure to hit the Presidential Wax Museum on our way out of town. Both kids had been preparing for this stop for quite some time by practicing the President song over and over again. Despite their knowledge, they were crestfallen to discover that the Wax Museum did not have the Presidents in order. Instead, they were just randomly placed throughout the building. The kids did enjoy learning about everything though through the aid of a personal phone that enabled one to listen to facts about each Commander in Chief.


Finally, the time arrived for us to say “Goodbye” to our vacation and head for home. While some would not look forward to a ten-hour car ride after a full vacation, Ellie and Ethan are actually really good car riders. With the aid of several audiobooks, lots of music, snacks, naps, and license plate bingo, our trip actually went fairly quick with us finally reaching home around 10:30 pm.

While I’m not necessarily excited that Ellie and Ethan are getting older, I am relieved that we have reached an age where the kids actually travel quite well. It’s fun to know that we’re reaching a stage where all kinds of fun adventures away from home are awaiting our family and I honestly can’t wait to see what we discover next!

#DaddyWrite

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Day 1,782 - Ellie Versus the Bee

One of the things that impresses me the most about Ellie is just how tough she is. It’s not uncommon for her to take painful looking spills when practicing her various gymnastics moves or when trying to complete her ninja course in the backyard. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the ever-growing set of calluses on her hands from the aforementioned gymnastics and ninja training. However, not much slows her down for any length of time at all. That’s even true if it’s a pain that she’s never experienced before.

Today’s activity for the kids and me consisted of a trip to Worlds of Fun. There was one way that this differed from some of our previous ones this summer. That being that we could really only stay at the park until about 2:30 so that the kids could come home and rest up before heading to church for VBS tonight. We started our day off with Ellie and Ethan riding the Ferris Wheel together while I stood and watched because there’s a rule that you can only have a max of two per car on the ride. From there, we made our way to Mustang Runner and followed that up with the Detonator.

While I’m aware that this post is supposed to be about Ellie, please allow me to take a second to brag about Ethan here. While he’s tall for his age, he is still only five years old. Therefore, he probably finds himself riding some rides that he’s not 100% ready for. One of those was the Detonator. While he admitted that he was definitely a little uneasy about the way the ride shot straight up in the air, that didn’t stop him from enjoying looking at all of his surroundings while up high.

Another moment in bravery for both kids came as we made our inaugural trip on the Zambezi Zinger. For Ethan, there was definitely some trepidation as he was riding a new ride that he had never ridden before. Big roller coasters make him a little nervous sometimes but he was still more than willing to climb aboard. For Ellie, there was a slight fear factor as not only was she riding a new coaster but she was riding it in a row all by herself. Even though Ethan and I were in the row right behind her, I’m sure that it was still more than a little scary to be in a car all alone. While Ellie and I ultimately both loved the ride, Ethan was willing to admit that he didn’t need to ride the Zinger again on this day.

After finishing our time on the Zinger, we wandered across the park to one of our favorites, the Viking Voyager. Lucky for us, the line for the popular ride was moving rather quickly and we found ourselves seated within ten minutes. Our ride was rather inconsequential. However, it was our process of disembarking from the ride that was something to remember.

As we walked up the exit’s flight of stairs and politely made our way past a man with a walker, Ellie grabbed her face and began screaming in pain out of nowhere. Finally, once we made it into an open area, I was able to get her to pull her hand away long enough to find out that she had been stung by a sweat bee right under her ear. It was obvious that it had hurt; I mean, how could it, not? We quickly made our way to a concession stand and got a cup of ice for her to hold on her face. Then, we found some comfy chairs to sit in while Ellie nursed her face and both kids enjoyed a snack.

Soon enough, both kids were ready to head on again. However, I had my own idea for what we should do first. The Viking Voyager has long been one of Ellie’s favorite rides and I hated the idea of her being afraid of it. Lucky for us though, the line was very short so with a little prodding, I was able to get both kids back on the ride. Once the time came to exit though, Ellie was noticeably nervous. However, we successfully made it through the exit area with no more stings to our name.

I believe it needs to be said that Ellie has no love lost for the sweat bee. When I informed her that bees generally die upon stinging someone, her response was “Good, I’m glad he’s dead!”. While that seems a little harsh, I can’t say that I blame her for those feelings. Can you?

#DaddyWrite