such is life: family fun

My brother and sister-in-law took us to Lagoon with them yesterday. Despite having only 5 hours of sleep the night before and the sweltering heat, we had a blast with them! I hadn't planned on actually riding very many rides (you'll see why later), but I ended up riding quite a few and had so much fun playing with the girls when the other adults went on rides that made me want to lie down on the ground in the fetal position with my thumb in my mouth while rocking myself until I made it to my happy place. I even managed to learn a few things:

1) Putting a child between two (as Lagoon puts it) "exceptionally large" people on spinning rides is not a good idea. The ride started going and Luis was doing everything he could to work against the momentum pushing him towards me (at one point is sounded like something snapped and we were scared the ride was going to break and we were all going to die).

2) Going on roller coasters with your eyes closed is not a good idea. This was one of two roller coasters I actually ended up going on. I wasn't planning on going on this ride, but as I was sitting with Hannah and Lia taking pictures, I noticed that someone was missing. I saw Flavio and Niki in the middle of the cart, but no Luis. When they got off they explained that no single riders were allowed on the ride (apparently Flavio, Niki, and Luis tried to cram into that middle section together... which obviously didn't work... I only wish I could have been there to take a picture of it). So I looked back down at the line and saw Luis just standing there, waiting and hoping someone would come down to rescue him from this unfortunate occurrence. So I ended up riding with Luis... with my eyes closed... because I was scared. When I got off the ride, not only was I hot, tired, and thirsty, but I now also had dizzy and with a little bit of whiplash to add to the list. But surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it :)

1) My 3-year-old niece is much braver than I will ever be. I was dying to go on these water slides. So after sitting with Lia so that Flavio, Niki and Hannah could ride, Luis and I went to take our turn. Hannah loved it so much that Flavio took her up a 2nd time. Herein lies the problem. You had to climb stairs to get to the top of the slides. I'm completely, undeniably, 100% acrophobic. When I'm up too high, I get so scared that I have irrational thoughts about how to get down (like jumping). So Luis, Flavio, Hannah and I are climbing the stairs and 2/3 of the way up I start having a full-fledged panic attack. I felt like I was going to start crying uncontrollably, have a heart attack, and die. We were so close to the top but I just couldn't make it the rest of the way. So I faced the walk of shame back down as Flavio had to tell Hannah that I was feeling "sick" and couldn't ride. It was horrible. I was so disappointed in myself for not being able to conquer my fears, not even to do something that I really wanted to do.