Choo Train

Yesterday, we spent all day at Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg. By we I mean my family plus the amazing, go-getter T, our babysitter of five years. This summer will be our swan song with T, who attends college beginning in late August. We are definitely spending plenty of time with her when we go to the amusement park. She parents along with us. Honestly, this kid is awe inspiring. She knows our parenting style, our kids, and enforces our rules with amazing aplomb. Gosh, we'll miss her.

The girls are professional thrill seekers at the park by now. The question mark is always how Finwe will behave. He needed half an hour last time to realize that he could leave a ride to get on another one and that we were not taking him away from the fun when the ride ended. His memory was well honed for this visit. He knew exactly the procedure and never uttered a whine as he left a ride.

Inwe had a few moments when we thought she was broken. Phill refused to get her an eight inch long lollipop in the middle of the day. He has a tradition of allowing the children to buy a toy or candy at the end of our visit; he wasn't completely denying her. Dinner in the Italy section of the park revived her. I also suspect it was Phill's plan of one adult (ARGH! T is an adult now!) to one child for the last few hours of the day. Inwe scored Phill.

The plan was for me to be in charge of Finwe, with T taking the reins of Larien. However, Larien saw a ride called the Katapult, which is a scrambler ride that many of you have seen at county fairs. This one, however, feels more stable than the county rides and really thrills Larien. T, having ridden Dark Kastle with me earlier in the day, wasn't up for another spinning ride. We switched children and separated so that Finwe could enjoy Land of the Dragons.

To Finwe, every roller coaster, people mover, and actual train in the park is a "Choo Train". He watched each roller coaster in the park intently. Oh, he loved watching the big ones whoosh and soar and drop. For Finwe, leaving the park is just as exciting as being in the park. A tram takes loads of people to the distant parking lots. It is the last choo train of the long day. As we got off last night, I told him to say goodbye to the train. He did. He did it again, and again, and again.

In fact, he said goodbye to the choo train for twenty minutes. Finwe's litany of leaving: "Bye bye, choo train. Bye bye."