Rosanna pulled out the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom map and unfolded a world of twisting roller coasters, exotic sea creatures, and superheroes. The kids' eyes opened wide. "You can each pick one thing on this map that you want to do," Rosanna said. "No whining or crying if we can't do other things."
The kids approached the map as if it were a candy store and studied each option closely. Flamingo Lagoon, Stingray Bay, Butterfly Garden--the possibilities were tantalizing. My son, Dante, quickly found the illustration of Batman and said, "I want that one." Rosanna wrote Dante's name in big letters across the Justice League Stage. My daughter, Paris, and Rosanna's daughter, Alegria, chose the Shouka killer whale show and Tiger Island. The group decided on Thomas the Train Town for Rosanna's son, Mateo, who is just learning to talk. "I want no whining," Rosanna reminded the crew. It was 10:30 a.m. and we had a plan.
On Labor Day Monday, we went to Six Flags in Vallejo with a family from Paris's kindergarten: Rosanna, her husband Mike, and their kids Alegria and Mateo. I was excited about getting to know some new friends but I dreaded visiting a theme park. The week before, I envisioned the kids melting in the sweltering heat and whining in long lines. And mostly I pictured Paris kicking and screaming in front of concessions stands: "I want a snow cone! I want a princess wand! I want a tattoo!" Luckily, we had Rosanna, a mom who tackles a theme park just as well as Crocodile Dundee once braved the jungle.
We started with a few attractions by the park entrance before diving into our selections: dolphin-viewing tank, sea lion show, Tweetie Bird character. Paris spotted cotton candy on the way to the sting ray touch tank: "I want cotton candy!" Rosanna was on it before I could even process the request. "We get only one treat today but not until we have filled our bodies with healthy food," said Rosanna, who immediately pulled a Tuperware of juicy watermelon from her backpack. Paris started wolfing down fruit.
We made our way to the tiger show where the girls asked the trainer what he was feeding the big cats. "Horse meat," he said. Wonder where they're getting that? And then we watched the Shouka Show. At the awesome spectacle, a killer whale leaps into the air and falls down into the water with humongous splashes. The folks in the front rows took home saltwater souvenirs.
The kids complained about the heat and Rosanna pulled a box of wipes from her bag and rubbed them on the kids' cheeks. Rosanna carried around a Mary Poppins bag with an endless supply of stuff. When Alegria got a scratch on her knee, Rosanna seemed to pull a tube of Neosporin from thin air. When I started coughing from a tickle in my throat, she handed over a cough drop.
We finally made it to the Justice League Stage and found an empty little pedestal. "Where's Batman?" Dante cried.
"He's off fighting the bad guys!" Rosanna responded. That's all Dante needed to know. "Let's go to Thomas!" he hollered.
And then it was the end of the day and I announced that we needed to go home. The kids' smiles dropped a hundred feet and Rosanna said, "You can do one more thing." We walked to an area of the park that we hadn't explored yet--and that's when Paris and Alegria spotted this gigantic play structure with water spewing all over the place. "I want that one!" the girls squealed. Rosanna pulled not one but two girls' swimsuits from her tiny backpack. When we go to Disneyland, I'm buying Rosanna a ticket, I thought.
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