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?

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