Laura Vegas

sorry i havn’t posted much. as of last friday afternoon i’ve been officially on vacation. no daycare kids for a week (love you kids … but need a break. lol!). joe has the week off. the girls got done with school last week and have the month off. we wanted to do some vacation stuff. and yet we really can’t afford any major vacation type things right now. hard to fork out money for stuff when you don’t actually get vacation pay … i’m really just giving up a weeks pay. lol! so we thought we’d do a few "daytrips".

today’s daytrip was to six flags discovery kingdom … or "marine world" as most californians call it (not sure when they changed the name). we hadn’t been there in years … actually i think it was when sarah was just a few weeks old in fact. lol! here’s a brief breakdown of our "daytrip":

• $100 for 4 tickets (and that was with a "buy one, get one free" deal)
• $13 for parking (which is a lot considering we then had to walk forever to get to the front gate)
• $25 for gas for the drive (estimated, but sounds about right)
• $6 for the girls to play the game where you shoot water at a target (alyssa did win though)
• $5 for a stuffed whale for sarah (after all, alyssa won a stuffed animal and sarah wanted one too)
• $35 for lunch (a plate of chinese food, 1 chicken and fries combo, 1 fish and fries combo, and 2 drinks that we shared)
• $7 for a bucket of cotton candy (which is actually refillable for $1, but we never did find where to refill it)
• $3 for a churro (sarah loves those, got hooked on them at the softball field snack bar)

and what did we get after forking out all that money? let’s see:

• 3 hours in the car round trip (including portable dvd player, nintendos, cd players, books, magazines, and i even had some scissors and some things that i needed to hand cut with me)
• a super long walk to and from the parking lot to the entrance (not sure if the tram would have been faster or not)
• a cold and windy day (not what we were dressed for by the way)
• 1 sea lion show (where i almost knocked an old lady out for being so rude to sarah)
• 1 dolphin show (good show, probably our favorite)
• 1 killer whale show (we were in the splash zone, and yet didn’t get wet)
• 1 hour wait time for the shows (have to get there a little early to get the good seats, and only 2 shows of each a day so you really have to plan it)
• 2 rides on roar, a classic wooden roller coaster (crazy 10-story-high opening drop, speeds of up to 50 mph, six reversals and 22 crossovers, and a 180-degree spiraling drop that features several moments of airtime)
• 3 rides on some pirate ship ride (the one that goes back and forth really high up so you’re almost upside down)
• 1 ride on the moonsoon falls (a 60 foot waterfall type thing that joe and the girls got absolutely soaked on)
• 3 rides on a huge swing ride (just the girls did that one)
• other misc rides (little ones here and there that didn’t have long lines)
• 7 trips to the bathrooms
• 49 pictures on my camera (which i’m not even sure how they turned out and not 1 of them includes me)
• 5 times i had to leave my camera bag in a "cubbie" while we rode a ride (which i don’t consider that safe when anyone could just walk up and claim it while we’re gone)
• 27 miles walked because we never could figure out where we were and kept going in circles (ok, not really 27 miles … but it felt like it)
• 2 tired girls, 1 tired dad, and 1 tired and unable to move mom (like seriously, i can’t move)
• 5 minutes looking for our car when it was time to leave (because we never pay attention to where we left it, even if we try to remember)

all in all we did have a great day … the girls had fun and that’s the important thing. we may be drop-dead tired and have no money left … but we had a good day! lol! and as we left there about 7:30 tonight … the sun finally peeked out. figures. lol!

and don’t ask me what business i had going on that wooden roller coaster(you can see it in the front of that top picture). lol! i actually love roller coasters and crazy rides … and joe is terrified of them. but i am still convinced that my ride on the "demon" roller coaster last year at another park … has everything to do with this chronic pain disease that has now taken over my life. it had corkscrews … and on one of them it totally tweaked my neck. i havn’t been the same since. lol! so i thought maybe if i went on this ride today (even though all the warnings told me i shouldn’t be on it. lol!) … maybe it would magically reverse eveything … like it happens in the movies. i don’t think it worked. and apparently my bones, muscles, joints, and all that fun stuff … they’re all seriously pissed at me for making them ride the ride. lol! and i rode it twice of all things. although the girls would have never gone on it without me … i had to do it for them too!

not sure what our next "daytrip" will be … may have to take it easy tomorrow. lol! maybe some peewee golfing … i think maybe i have a coupon laying around!