Kai had told us that he wanted to get there when it opened at 11am and stay until it closed at 6pm. It would be a long day, but if that is what he wanted, we were willing to give it a go. We got there shortly after the waterpark opened. It was not yet crowded.
The first ride we went on is the one in the background of the above photo. The rafts that you ride on are brought to the top of the ride by a conveyor. Unfortunately, either because of malfunction or because no one was there to properly load the rafts onto the conveyor, the rafts were very slow to come to the top of the ride. What looked to be a short wait turned into a longer one, probably close to a half hour. Kai got a little impatient, but, under the circumstances, nothing extreme.
Once we finally got to go down, we all enjoyed it, but we decided that we would not come back to this ride again.
We went on most of the rides that used tubes or rafts and Kai had a fun time. The crowd had built up by early afternoon so we had to wait at every ride, but nothing too overwhelming. Of course, Kai has become much more tolerant of waiting; when he was younger, this type of waiting would have been much more difficult.
By 4pm, he was satisfied that he had had enough and we decided to go on one last ride and called it a day.
It was a good way to wrap up the last summer weekend before he starts school on Wednesday.
As this will be his last year of middle school before he begins high school, it will be an important time and we want to see more progress.
But the time to worry about that will be coming soon. On this day we just enjoyed the fun time we had.
A nice way to wrap up summer. Kai seemed to have done a very good job in keeping his patience. He seems to be very relaxed in these photos.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that when a child experiences a great adventure (such as his Hawaiian adventure), it matures him. He feels as if he has gained wisdom from his experience. He has seen a part of the world which has given him a new outlook. It deepens life, and enriches it. His mind had experienced nature apart from human congestion...just the great beauty of the outdoors. I think this makes him more comfortable with the world. When the world looks beautiful, a hunger to experience it more in the future motivates him to wish to engage with it more, and gives hope for what is to come, and for what he is to become.
I don't think we see an obvious link between these adventures and maturity with Kai, but I'm hoping that each one has some impact, perhaps subtle and unnoticed, but grows over time. I hope, as you say, that he does want to engage with the world more.
DeleteThat looks like a really fun day! A nice way to end the summer and look forward to school starting. I hope it's a great year for Kai and you're all off to a good start this Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I don't particularly look forward to going to the waterpark, but we all end up enjoying it when we go.
DeleteThanks for the well wishes, Betsy.