Six Flags Over Georgia

This afternoon was our big trip to Six Flags, and for Maddie it was her first time.  She had an absolutely great time there, but without question thinks that Dollywood is much, much better.  This might have something to do with the crowds here at the park, which were insane.  To give you an idea of how crowded it was, she literally only rode one ride twice.  And that was within a five-hour span.  The other time was spent waiting for food, or for some of us, waiting for really long periods of time for rides that stopped working.

This is Diana, who is one of our wonderful friends.  She was getting drinks for us while I was waiting to hand someone a ticket, and she was in line for drinks for 45 minutes.  But we knew what we were getting into, and Maddie's big goal for the day was to finally try a roller coaster, and here's the one she rode:

She enjoyed it, and in fact rode it twice.  But I think she was done with roller coasters for the day after this one.  Or any other ride for that matter.  But the point is, she got to do what she wanted to do, and she had a great time with different people exploring the park.  

I love roller coasters, but I wasn't sure about them given my recent heart episodes.  So I stuck with some other friends on a more serene and sentimental journey.

You can see we're making monster faces because yes, after thirty years or so, I'm back at the Monster Plantation.  Or, at least the Monster Mansion, which is what they've changed the name to.  I guess the word "plantation" must be offensive to someone.  Which means my subdivision is probably going to need to change its name, but I digress.  Here's the group I was with, which made the really long line much more fun:

God is so good.  After I was waiting all that time for a drink, I walked up to this ride, and just happened to run into my good friends, and we had a nice time riding together.

They don't let you bring cameras in to the park, but I was using my cell phone to take these pics today, and they came out pretty well.

Even this one inside the plantation.  There's the sheriff, who I've been quoting for thirty years now:  "Don't go in there!"  You can see some of our friends are terrified:

This is Mr. Quick, a dear friend that we enjoy spending time with.  He and his family have been so great.  

Oh, and here's Mr. Jelly Belly.  He was super friendly too, hanging around on the bench down nearby.

I'd rather not talk about this picture right now.  I'm not sure how it got here.  Anyway, they all decided to do a roller coaster after that, so I was on my own for a bit. 

So I went to the Hall of Justice!  And this building just looks amazing.  Can we stop to appreciate how great this looks?

It's like the seventies cartoon "Superfriends" come to life!  I just couldn't wait to get inside!

And soon enough, I couldn't wait anymore.  Literally.  We waited in there for a super long time, and I think we were only moving forward when other people in front of us gave up and got out of line.  There wasn't any air conditioning in the Hall of Justice, as the Superfriends don't need that sort of thing.  The point is, I didn't get to ride the ride.  But that's okay.  Because I did another ride!

I was talking to Mom on the phone, and decided to hop on the carousel at the top of the hill, because that was literally the only ride in the park without a line.  The cars next door had an hour wait, but for some reason, the carousel didn't draw the crowds.  But I love carousels, just for their artistry, mechanics, and a sense of nostalgia.

I sat in this rocking chair afterwards, just resting and taking in a bit of the atmosphere.  It was a quiet area, perhaps the only one in the park.

I sat there a moment, texting Maddie, who was telling me she was having a great time.  One fun fact about Six Flags is that they don't take cash.  I gave her two twenties going in, because one twenty was not enough for food and drink.  No joke.  But it turned out she needed to get some sort of credit card thing and so on, and it took the girls a little bit to work all that out.  I didn't know this going in. 

Anyway, I got up and walked a lap around the park as if I were on my treadmill, and I happened to run into our friends again over at this crazy ride.

It's a little swing ride, and I don't even like those on the ground.  But this one takes you this high up:

Yeah.  Anyway, the rest of their group was waiting in another line, they told me, and guess who was with them now?

I got to spend a little time with Maddie today, and that was an answer to prayer too.  I mean, I want her to go and have a great day with friends and not have dad lurking around.  But just a tiny bit of time with the group together was nice.  We sat down for a meal together - although right before the meal, Maddie spotted something at a Steampunk-themed shop that she wanted to pick up. 

It's the necklace she's wearing.  She's posing with another old friend of ours we ran into over by that shop, one that may be getting a job at Free Chapel very soon. 

The "Steampunk District" still has a few things to work on.  There's a big ride over there, and this shop that sells mostly top hats with gears on, but then there was this thing here, which looked fascinating..

There were go-karts too, but those looked standard.  I guess I'm saying it needs a little work.  The idea sounds like it could be something amazing though - a steampunk themed area.  I'm all in for that!

Anyway, we were right back afterwards, eating with our friends.  Spending the day together was what made the day more fun - it was just right.  Oh, and here's another old friend we got to see again:

Yeah, there's Mr. Jelly Belly again!  Maddie was having fun, and there weren't any attitudes at all today from anyone.... well, except for maybe this bunch here:

Yeah, we saw that "attitudes" sign there and had to pose accordingly.  But despite this joke picture here, it was a good day today.

And it was a long day too!  I mean, we started out early this morning, heading off to church for two services before we did any of this, and that's usually a long day by itself!

This morning was another wonderful morning at KidPak, as our Storm Chasers series has been rolling around in a fantastic way.  Lots of laughs and learning - we're hitting our bottom line really well lately.  This morning's message about Noah and getting to shelter was really good.

It was a solid day.  We got home after 11pm, having left the house around 7:30am or so... and as you can imagine, we were zonked!  I read a bit to Maddie tonight from "Kingdom Keepers," and after that, we were asleep really quickly!