Slurpee Heroics

Greetings from the surprisingly beautiful and welcoming state of Minnesota! No, we did not pull a spontaneous relocation; we're just visiting. Sean's parents currently (but not for long) reside in the quaint town of New Prague and we descended on them like flies on a cowpie for ten whole days. Not to say that we can fly without artificial aid or that Sean's parents are in any way comparable to bovine excrement...that analogy really didn't work too well, did it?

I have so much to share because our trip has been packed full of fun, but due to the fact that I'm dog paddling in post-midnight mental sludge, I'll touch on yesterday's events and fill in the rest later.

So Sean and I have this really fun thing we do with our kids. Its not altogether productive and somewhat manipulative, but we seem to enjoy it because we keep doing it.

Here's how it goes. We take the clan to an amusement park, which we have now done twice on this trip alone. Friday we spent the entire day at Valley Fair and today we visited the Mall of America amusement park. We spend a boat-load getting everyone unlimited passes, and then we spend the rest of the day bribing them with Slurpees to go on rides that scare the pants off of them.

Katelyn in the past has been an easy target; she would go on anything. She's apparently tightened the reigns on her bravery (or lost interest in Slurpees) because she could not be bribed at any time on this trip to go on coasters that normally could have been bought with a 32-ounce Slurpee. I had to up the antee. I actually bribed her with a discount-rack purchase at Justice Just for Girls to go on this "Fairly-Odd Coaster" at the Mall of Americas today. It was a last-ditch effort, but it paid off. The coaster was awesome; the cars spin like the Tilt-a-Whirl while running on a coaster track. Incidentally, I bribed Kalli onto the same coaster with the promise of Chinese food for lunch tomorrow. Apparently the Slurpee has really lost its appeal.

Tucker is pretty open to any ride and did the big doozer coaster and a few smaller ones at Valley Fair. However today we couldn't bribe him onto anything remotely coaster-ish. He did brave some freefall rides, but they were bribe-free and therefore he gets no Slurpee.

Tanner? Sigh. The guy is admittedly squeamish the second we step foot inside a park. He knows the prodding and bribing that follow (although I usually leave him alone as I was a lot like him as a young lass in this regard). He is stalwart; a true brick wall. Oh, he'll do rides. They just happen to be rides he shares with preschoolers. He doesn't care. I will give him this, however. He braved two "down" escalators today. An all-time first for this kid!

Kalli wins the Tough Chick of the Day award. She didn't balk at any ride she was tall enough to go on. Kudos to Dale and Susan for coming along for the ride (pun very much intended). They're always up for an adventure.

I'm too lazy (tired?) to upload pictures, so until next time...