Day 1,649 - The One with a Ferris Wheel in a Sporting Goods Store

I love creating memories with my kids. It’s honestly something that I’ve tried my best to prioritize. I know that part of being a stay-at-home dad is that neither Ellie or Ethan will necessarily remember everything about their formative years. However, I really hope that they at least remember a few things here and there. For Ethan, I think that we might have made one of those memories on Monday morning.

Last summer, I was subjected to a less-than-enjoyable dental surgery. The reason was that my root canal from two decades ago apparently wasn’t fully completed and what had been left had been rotting in my gums for all that time. Fortunately, a random chipped tooth allowed them to discover what had happened before things could get really bad. Apparently, if it was left unchecked for long enough, I could have eventually gone septic. Crazy, right? Anyway, as part of my surgery, I was told to make a follow-up exam after six months so they could check that everything healed properly. As a result, that’s exactly what I did.

Now, the thing that you need to know about my surgeon is that his office is located in Overland Park which is none too close to home. Therefore, I knew that I needed to make an appointment on a day when Ethan didn’t have school since there was no way I would be able to make it back to the Northland to pick him. Monday just happened to be that day so after we dropped Ellie off at school, we made our way down to Overland Park for my appointment.

Ethan may have gotten a little tired on our trek to Overland Park.

The thing about a six-month follow-up appointment is that it doesn’t take very long to complete. Ethan didn’t even have time to start watching a movie on my phone or anything. A couple of x-rays and a technician drumming on my teeth and we were on our way. Now, I have to be honest. The idea of immediately driving back home did not appeal to me. On past trips, we’ve grabbed lunch at Joe’s KC BBQ. However, I really didn’t feel like eating out on this occasion. As a result, I came up with another fun thing to do: we could head to Scheel’s Sporting Goods and ride the indoor Ferris Wheel!

Now, the prospect of going in a store did not delight Ethan very much. However, his demeanor changed when I wandered up to a register and purchased two tokens to ride the Ferris Wheel. Then, he started getting very excited. By the time we were standing in line for the ride, he was literally jumping up and down in excitement. It probably added to his excitement level that he had never ridden a Ferris Wheel before.

After much anticipation, the time arrived for us to climb aboard. Our ride operator, “Cookie McJingle” strapped us in and pressed the button to start the ride. For the record, I really don’t think our operator was telling me the truth about his name. It seemed inappropriate for me to ask to see a form of identification though. As the Ferris Wheel climbed higher and higher, Ethan’s eyes got bigger and bigger. Before long, we were at the highest point of the store and could see everything in sight. We circled up and down six times before Cookie finally pressed the button and ended our ride.

Once the ride was over, Ethan looked at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes and asked if we could get a treat to share. If you know my kids, then you know that they don’t care about toys at all. The most direct route to their heart is to buy them a treat. Therefore, it was fairly academic that I was going to buy him a treat. So with that, we headed into the café and purchase one of the largest cookies that I had ever seen. After breaking it in half, we sat down and enjoyed our tasty treat together, making conversation all the while. Once our treat was done, Ethan declared that he was ready to go home. Therefore, that’s exactly what we did.

While going to a sporting goods store might now seem like a very exciting thing, the fact is that my kids thrive on one-on-one time. They absolutely love to know that there’s no competition for affection at that point. Honestly, I love those moments too. While I love both of my kids equally, there’s something special about those little moments where it’s just me with one of them. While I know I’ll certainly remember those one-on-one times, I never know whether the kids will or not. That being said, I choose to believe that a first ride on a Ferris Wheel is a big enough moment for Ethan to make a memory.

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