It's our wedding anniversary, so we went to...

Six Flags, of course!  We've had unused season tickets waiting to be used since May after all.  We may do this every year for our anniversary--it seems fitting, somehow, what with getting married in Vegas on 7-7-07 and all.  Sort of a similarity in atmosphere or something. 

It all started out peacefully enough.  The carousel horses...I remember those always being the very first thing to ride.  It's amazing how just walking up to front gate of Six Flags starts triggering memories (maybe it's the smell?). 

LooneyTunesLand was our first stop.  I have no idea what used to be in this area, but I don't remember there being any dedicated kiddie area when I was in kindergarten/1st grade and really remember coming to Six Flags.

Little Miss was not overly enthused by Speedy Gonzales's Truckin' Across the USA ride.  Maybe because she had to sit with someone else's father?

She did seem to enjoy the thrill of the flying bus a little more--she's in the front.

Now we were really cookin'.  This fast-drop-ride had a little more daring to it.

I don't think the swirly swings had enough zing for Miss Adventure.

I recall this being her Uncle Trey's favorite ride.

The Wiley Coyote rollercoaster was hands down the favorite kiddie ride.

I thought Loverboy was going on this one with her, but she wanted to be in it by herself.  She's in the top blue car here.  I think it was a little too slow a ride for her.

I like how all the landscaping has grown and mellowed.  Lots of cool, shady spots.

She kept a tight rein on the little boy she rode with on the Yosemite Sam Texas Tea Cups--he wanted to spin a little too much.  Who knew the adrenaline junkie she was about to become...

Next we headed to Mexico/Spain.  This has always been my favorite area at Six Flags.  I remember the gift shop sold gigantic paper roses and nylon butterflies (which I never got to buy and I'm scarred to this day and it's all my mother's fault!).  Now it's full of Tweety Bird battery operated fans.   But the Sombrero is STILL my favorite ride, thank you very much.  Little Miss liked it mucho as well.  Yea!  My Sombrero buddy.  I didn't know at this point just how much she liked it, though.

She saw this one from the parking lot and was determined to ride it.  It used to be the bobsled, now it's La Vipora or something like that--sounds snake-y.  Thank God Loverboy rode this one with her.

I think this was a little out of her league at this point.  (I'm not sure Loverboy will ever ride this again either)

Since that was next to the fancy Mexican teacup ride, she and I rode that.

Probably the prettiest ride of the day.

And she was determined to ride this one.  At least I got her situated near the middle--she wanted on the ends.  This kid's going to kill me.  This one has another memory--Dad/Papa somehow got Mom/Molly, Trey and I talked onto this one...let's just say Mom did not enjoy it and this is not a particularly happy Six Flags memory.  However, Little Miss immediately drug me back around to get in line so we could ride it again.

Ah, the log ride.  It has some weird Spanish name, but it's the log ride to me.  My second favorite ride--it's a little more daring with that last plunge and my shoes always got filled with water.  We had a devil of a time finding this one.  It seemed like we walked forever to get to the entrance and then back again to get on the thing.  Little Miss, surprise surprise, LOVED it.  She was pooping out by this time, though, so the length of the walk deterred a second ride.

She was really campaigning for some ice cream, and a dippin' dots cart was in the direction of the exit from Mexico.  A nice, cool, refreshing treat...or so it seemed.  More to come on that.

Loverboy benefitted from her ice cream cooled hands.

We were headed for the exit, but had to pass by...El Sombrero!  Oh! Sweet siren's song--we had to ride one more time!  Then again!  And again!  And (dear Lord!) one more time.  I think it was that fourth time that did it.  As we spun to a stop, Little Miss said her head hurt.  Well, of course it did.  She'd had more excitement in five hours than she's had in her five years.  We sat so she could drink and rest a few minutes, then it was time to go.  We wanted to get a good handwashing in before we left, as well a restroom break and that's when she mentioned her tummy kind of hurt.  Then she elaborated:  she needed to throw up.  At least everything worked together and we were in the right place at the right time.  As she was hurling semi-digested dippin' dots ice cream (cookies and cream flavor, if you must know) I had an epiphany--dairy products and tummy dropping rides are not a good combination for this girl of mine.  Give her a milkshake and feed her a burger--same reaction.  Lesson learned. 

Some other lessons learned:

Season passes/play passes are very good things indeed.  We had several hours of fun, but didn't feel like we had to kill ourselves (just throw up) to get everything done in one day.  We'll just go back (and not have ice cream)

Wednesday afternoons seem to be a relatively uncrowded time.  We hardly waited for any rides.  Of course, we only hit three of the park's themed areas, but still, the crowds weren't bad.

Don't bother putting on makeup when going to an amusement park in Texas in the middle of summer.  By the time we made through the gates all that was left was waterproof mascara (which WAS a good idea as I was able to leave the log ride without looking like a drowned raccoon).  You're just gonna sweat (and sweat, and sweat)--call it a "glow" and feel pretty about it.

Parking is ridiculously expensive but buy the parking pass, though I think it should be included with a season pass, thank you very much.

Buy the refillable cup.  We got free refills today and they'll be .99 for the rest of the season.  Although the drinks taste, well, bad.  But, hydration, you know.

Wear comfortable shoes.  NOT flip-flops (we knew better, but there were a lot of flying flip-flops and kids running out of theirs in LooneyTunesLand).

Bring band-aids, but ones with good adhesive.

This one bears repeating--don't feed Little Miss dairy products and then shake her vigorously.