Our initial plans to go to the coast were squelched by weather (at the coast, not here, where it was gorgeous). Then we got a call from Aaron, Wendy, and Lily, wanting to play. So we decided to hit Oaks Park, a (by today's standards very modest) amusement park on the river just south of downtown on the east side.
Unfortunately, Lily, who is a multi-tour veteran of Disneyland, had less than zero interest in going on rides. But Elizabeth took to the rides like a beaver to trees. She went on every ride that she could, starting with the motorcycles and culminating with an actual rollercoaster which, short and small as it was, even Daddy found thrilling.
Elizabeth seemed to know, by some sort of ancestral knowledge, something deep in the gene pool, that no trip to the fair was complete without a treat. So despite Mommy and Daddy's best efforts, we ate soft-serve. Barb and I split a cone, and Elizabeth ate an entire cone herself. Suzanne just lunged uselessly for the ice cream, and brooded over the interesting fact that everyone present but herself got an icy, delicious treat.
I can imagine us going back to Oaks Park our entire lives.
Elizabeth was the only kid on both the motorcycle and the car. She didn't care a whit.
Above: Elizabeth and Lily find common ground in the embodiment of a Titleist. Below: Suzanne soars in her first amusement ride -- the Hot Air Balloon.
Above: That's not a machinegun, it's a water cannon. Below: Suzanne Hovey on the midway.
Above: Lily Joy as fungus; chilling out on a stump outside the Carousel while the Larrison girls ride for what seems like an eternity. Elizabeth's steed? A rooster! Barb and Suzanne, on the other hand, favored a frog. Below: Daddy and Elizabeth on a Ferris wheel! Thank you, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., American. (I always thought Ferris was French.)
Above and Below: The girls on the Oaks Park Train.
Above and Below: Ice cream is awesome!
Above: Barb looks fabulous even in a funhouse mirror.
No comments:
Post a Comment