New Trick I Discovered: Guaranteed Baby Entertainment For Hours!

I am so screwed.

Once this feller realizes that those things attached to his ankles actually help him get to Things That Are Not To Be Touched more quickly than heaving his body in the general direction of where he wants to be, well, my life will be over. Unless I keep him chained to a radiator or something sensible like that. Oh, stop. I won’t chain him to a basement radiator. It’ll be a nice one in the kitchen or something. Near a TV.

The other day I inadvertently stumbled onto something that keeps the kid busy for hours. Seriously. He doesn’t even think about signing up for skydiving lessons or anything.

Behold:

I have an almost 4 year old boy. And yes, you are so screwed! lol My son was the same way as a baby. He didn’t learn to walk, he learned to RUN! And FYI, anything that can be used as a ladder will be. Also, if you ever hear Henry counting to three in the other room, RUN to get him before he tries to fly off the dresser. :) I can tell you now he directs his energy to more appropriate things though (most if the time). He taught himself to ride a two wheeler a couple of weeks ago and that has kept him happy enough to stop climbing to the top of our cars and trucks! Good Luck!

My mother in law keeps telling me the story of how she used to entertain the boys while gardening. She would hook the jolly jumper up to the hills hoist (I’m not sure quite how she did this but, seeing how safety paranoid she is with my son, I’m sure it was perfectly safe). Then she would tie a balloon on just barely within reach and they would happily chase that balloon, round and round the rotary clothsline for hours. Them balloons, are winners alright!

Until I read this I had completely forgotten how truly obessed my son (now 14) was with balloons as a baby/toddler. He once came back limping from a walk with the babysitter and refused to put any weight on his foot, demanding to be carried. Worried, we took him to the ER where were asked all kinds of question aimed at determining whether it was us or the babysitter who had broken his kneecaps. Finally the Dr. walked into the room with a balloon tied to a long string, walked out with it and let it go. Kid was outta my lap running after the string faster than you can say “little faker”. The smiling looks on the faces of the triage staff as we left, kid walking perfectly happily with ballon were priceless. They had seen it all before. Smart Doctor.

Slingshotting 216 Feet Up In Downtown Denver at Elitch Gardens

This morning on the way to Elitch Gardens Kristin said “I’m a little nervous.” My response was “yeah, I get nervous too.” Little did we know what we were in for. :)

We met Jimmy, who would show us around the park, at the front gates and got right to it.

We started out easily enough at the Mind Eraser. It’s a “feet dangling in the air” thrill ride with some good twists and turns. (As you might know, I love the feet dangling in the air rides.)

Then we started walking towards Boomerang, which was next on my list. (3 coasters on my list here.)

Before Boomerang came The XLR8R, a free-fall swing that was not on my list because it’s not a coaster. But Jimmy wanted us to try it so with a little bit of apprehension we went for it. According to the Elitch website it’s the highest free-fall swing in Colorado. I’m not quite sure how high, but I’m going to guess around 200 feet.

The sun was shining directly at my camera so I didn’t get a great photo:

What happens is you get strapped into a harness and then hooked up to the swing. 1-4 people can ride at a time so Kristin, Jimmy, and I all went. Then you get pulled up to the top of that contraption you see in the photo. There’s a speaker up there and when it’s time you hear “3, 2, 1″ and you have to pull a cord to go into free-fall.

Jimmy was in charge of pulling the cord and I kind of expected a hesitation. But it was literally “3, 2, 1 [PULL!]” and we were flying. If you’ve never done bungy or a swing or a sky dive the experience is exhilarating in a way that words can’t describe. Your whole body tenses up and you sort of feel like you’ll fly directly into the ground. :)

An adrenaline high like that is a pretty good way to wake up …

Twister II is a classic wooden coaster. Lots of fun, long ride, beautiful, and not extraordinarily bumpy. I took about a dozen photos of Twister II, located here .

I went on the Boomerang at Knott’s Berry Farm , and this one was very similar. Boomerang definitely has the smaller seats that I don’t quite fit into. It’s really fun, but a bit uncomfortable and back-tenderizing. That said, after The XLR8R my back mostly stopped hurting. Must’ve been the adrenaline.

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