What's the Big Idea!

“What’s the big idea!”

Adam has started randomly yelling this. Invariably it will crack him (and me) up. The Missus and I love it because it shows that he’s recovered from his latest virus.

Where did he get this? (The phrase not the virus.) It’s not something the Missus or I usually say. “Donald Duck!” he told us. He’s a big fan of that duck. I grew up as more of a Warner's guy than a Disney guy. Bugs Bunny, not Mickey the Mouse. I have a bunch of the Classic Collection DVDs of Bugs and the gang, but the twins are a little scared of them. There’s a lot of violence of the cartoon variety, and Daffy Duck may just be *too* insane for them.

The twins are pretty much scared of everything right now. Actually, that’s not true. They’re somewhat adventurous if they know Mom and Dad are close, but our trip to Hersheypark for their third birthday showed how far they have to go.

It started on the way in, when they screamed bloody murder when I asked them to go stand near the walking Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Man. Maybe they don’t like orange, I thought, but later they acted the same way around the Hershey’s Kiss Man and Peppermint Pattie.

We went over to the “baby” section of the park and I tried to put them on their first ride: a merry-go-round. When I tried to put them on the horse, the bloody-murder screams began again. We all ended up sitting on a bench. The next ride we tried was cars that went round and round. I figured Adam, whose career plans currently revolve around NASCAR, would love it, even though parents weren’t allowed on. No go. More of the screaming, bloody-murder variety. The lady running the ride had to stop and unbuckle the twins. We tried a few more rides without success.

It was the perfect day to be at Hersheypark. The park was almost empty, because, we figured, it was Sunday and the opening weekend. The weather was beautiful, cool and clear. But it was eleven o’clock and the twins were pretty much finished with the rides. What were we going to do with the rest of the day?

Fortunately there are other things to do in the park. The twins loved the Sea Lion show in the Aquatheatre. They are still talking about how one of the sea lions bumped the bad guy in the butt and pushed him in the water. The park has a zoo too. (I always wanted to type that.) We took a long walk—no stroller this time--looking at the animals. Quantities of junk food were consumed (mostly by Daddy.)

They also enjoyed Chocolate World, which is basically a ride that shows you how chocolate bars are made. At the end, they got hats that proclaimed them chocolate workers. Sounds like a pretty good job to me.

We all had a fun day, but still I wish they had gone on the rides. Adam was fighting a nasty virus, but Tessa, who was not sick, and who is usually fearless, didn't like the rides either. Hopefully when we go back, they'll be ready for the merry-go-round, at least.