The Injured Reserve and the Amusement Park
You must first know the cast of characters:
BBM: Recovering from whiplash/motion sickness sufferer
Mom-Mom: Recovering from knee surgery (torn mensicus-two weeks post surgery)/motion sickness sufferer
Pop-Pop: Craniotomy
Big I: Roller Coaster Queen
Lil C: Agreeable toddler
My parents, the girls and I went to an old-fashioned amusement park on Friday. We were an unlikely crew for amusement park material. But my grandparents had a ton of free ride tickets and it was a nice day, so we went. Mr. BBM (aka Roller Coaster King) couldn’t take the day off to come with us because he is currently up to his eyeballs in work and also preparing for a trip.
Big I spent much of the almost two hour drive talking about roller coasters as my parents and I looked at each other questioningly. Who was going to step up? Who was going to "take one for the team" when it came to riding the rough rides?
My Dad took the first shift. Those airplanes may look nice and easy but the turns were fast and wicked for a recovering whiplash gal. I also saw no way that my Mom was going to be able to climb up into those things. So my Dad spent much of the ride stabilizing Lil C’s head the way a lifeguard would after a diving accident.
That was followed by the pirate ship. You know, the one where you swing back and forth endlessly and your stomach starts to feel really sick and. . . you get the idea. My Mom took her turn, because anyone who has previously barfed after that ride (yours truly) gets a pass.
My Dad then took another turn and went with Big I on a wooden roller coaster. It was the smaller of the two and I said there was no way I was going to be able to handle the shaking and the quick turns. My Dad got off the ride with a major headache. My Mom was nauseous. I was realizing it was my turn to step up. . . so we headed off to kiddie land.
Big I and Lil C rode in this fire truck while I balanced myself on the rapidly spinning platform in case Lil C decided to abandon ship. When we were finished spinning, none of the adults were feeling great. Amusement parks were definitely made for kids.
Even so, I agreed to take the girls on the rockets. They looked smooth enough. Meanwhile, the thing flew at warp speed and Lil C and I were plastered to the side of the rocket, holding on for dear life! When it was all over, I was about finished with rides and Lil C had adopted a new phrase, "anoder ride peease."
She repeated that right up until she fell asleep with true little diva style. So, my parents and I took turns babysitting the stroller while we let Big I choose rides and victims riding partners. My Mom and I were chosen first to go on a lovely log flume ride. Big I and I took the front and we fared pretty well. My Mom didn’t. She got hit with a geyser pretty good and took a decent splash at the end too. She said she was going into ride retirement for a bit, mostly to let her butt dry off.
So, my Dad took his turn with Big I. The engineer in him figured out the exact weight distribution so as not to get drenched. He could have given my Mom a few words of advice in that area.
Big I then saw the Tilt-a-Whirl or as I like to call it the Barf-while-Twirling. That ride makes me super sick. My Dad said the spinning would be bad for his head, so my Mom got nominated. During the first rotation, she looked pretty happy. My Dad said, "Look, she doesn’t look that bad." I laughed and said, "Give her one more trip around." Sure enough, the next time my Mom came into view she was looking a bit under the weather. The ride went for an eternity, and she staggered off feeling terrible. It could only mean one thing. . .
It was definitely Pop-Pop’s turn. My Dad took the girls on the Merry-Go-Round and they had an absolute blast.
Then they had some close encounters with some bears since we all needed the spinning to stop for a bit.
Lil C insisted on getting up close and personal. We’ve officially entered the affectionate stage of our toddler program.
We then rode the train with the tiniest little heiney seats I’ve ever seen. Lil C could not believe we were on a CHOO-CHOO TRAIN! She kept yelling it over and over again, like "Hey world, look at me! I am on a CHOO-CHOO TRAIN!".
Then we hit the highlight of the entire day. BALLS!!!! Now everyone loves a good ball pit, but when the ball pit is practically the size of a pool, it enters a whole new level of fun! The first time the girls went in, Lil C was tentative. She just sort of stood there in the balls and would pick one up every once in a while and proclaim "RED ONE" or "BLUE ONE". She mostly just stood there looking incredibly dazed but happy, and as if she had no clue what to do.
During the second round of ball pit time, Lil C got a little more into it. "Ready, SET, GO!" she yelled as she jumped in full force, and almost sent me flying in with her. She only spent a couple minutes showing me the BALLS!!!! before she decided it was time to "swim."
Big I did the back float. . .
. . . while Lil C did the freestyle. This also marks our first almost-temper-tantrum. When her time was up she made like a jellyfish, went completely limp, and then tried to run away from me in the pit. But in true Lil C fashion, she pulled it together when I mentioned "popcorn."
So "Whiplash Woman", "Meniscus Lady" and "Craniotomy Man" made it through the day without suffering any significant injuries (O.k. well the wallets don’t count).
The End.
Out of the Blogfice
I’m hanging out at TDA Training today. Go check it out.
What’s in a Name?
I’ve been tagged by One Crazy Chick. I struggled with what to do regarding this meme. I have enjoyed a certain anonymity all this time and I didn’t know whether or not I wanted to end that, so. . . here goes:
My "name" is: Black Belt Mama
Origin: Okinawan/American
Meaning: Mother of two with mad kata skillz (sort of).
My real name is: TOP SECRET CLASSIFIED as in: If I tell you, I’d then have to kill you ninja-style, and seeing as how I like you. . . well, you get the idea.
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: Wealthy (how I wish that were true), or "God See’s." In literature, it was a name created by Shakespeare for a character in one of his great works.
But that’s not why my parents gave me my top secret name. My parents were somewhat a part of the long-haired hippy crowd back in 1975, and my name comes from a collection of songs by Seals and Crofts. If you figure it out, keep it to yourself. Remember, it’s TOP SECRET and revealing it means that your life may be in danger.
Happy Monday (for a change)
Generally, I’m not a fan of Monday’s. Despite the obvious reasons: not the weekend anymore and very far from the next weekend, Monday’s always seem to pose additional challenges in the BBM household. The girls are usually super challenging on Monday’s (or maybe it just feels that way since I slack off over the weekend and let Mr. BBM deal with stuff, only to take back my full role each Monday morning). For whatever reason, Monday’s are usually just plain not cool.
But when your Monday starts out with a comment on your blog saying that you are the Crazy Hip Blog Mama’s, "Mom of the Week," things are obviously looking pretty up!
I’m thinking that my music video had something to do with this. I may have to come out of retirement after all.
Floating, Oozing, and Encores
When I went to karate last week, I had to climb in my moon roof because my head wouldn’t fit through the door or even in the car for that matter. Driving with your head sticking out of the moon roof is not easy. Despite all the odd looks I got and the few bugs who met an unfortunate fate, driving in such a fashion was not all that bad (Bugs are protein right?). I’ll deal with the bugs, because compliments like the ones I got certainly don’t come every day. When you guys like something, you know how to compliment the hell out of a girl, so thank you all!
After watching all the comments and emails rolling in from across the blogosphere in response to my debut music video, I came to two possible conclusions: either the mirrors in my house are straight out of a fun house, or my readers need to seriously consider seeing an eye doctor. I’m going with the latter.
Mr. BBM is so thrilled with the response from the video that he’s been scratching his head trying to think of an encore. I had imagined this would be a one-time thing but Mr. BBM says that it was entirely too much fun to only do once. After such a fabulous response to the debut, I don’t think I’d ever be able to top it, so he’s going to have to do some major convincing for me to get out the echo microphone and heels and come out of retirement. I think I’m more of a one-hit wonder.
In other news, mosquito’s are not the least bit threatened by a bo. I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather to work on my bo kata’s and bunkai outside. I figure I better get all of the bo kata’s and their applications nailed down now since winters where I live are not exactly bo friendly.
Before I went outside, I sprayed a decent amount of natural bug repellent on my arms and legs. It spelled worse than the DEET stuff, a harsh concoction of lemon and eucalyptus. I think the spray is more of a human repellent than anything else though. I know I wouldn’t want to stand near me smelling like that! The mosquito’s, on the other hand, must be really into citrus fruits. My legs are currently a spotted mess of itch and ooze.
The good news is that despite the attack of the mosquito’s, days later I am able to walk a stranger through the bunkai. It is definitely starting to stick in that slippery brain of mine. The bo kata’s are starting to make a lot more sense to me, which is a big relief. If only bunkai came as easily as lip syncing. . .
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