Is it summer yet?

So I went with my family and parents to Branson over the last couple of days.  It was fun.  A lot of fun.  We went to my favorite of all theme parks, Silver Dollar City.  I’ve been going there since I was 6 (maybe younger, but that’s what I can remember).  I absolutely love it there.

For those of you who have been there, apparently Banjo Jack has moved on.  He was the guy who was always performing outside the Saloon.  That made me sad.  He was the best part of the park.

The weather was perfect, which meant there were a billion people there.  It was possibly the busiest I have ever seen it.  We only went one day, so I didn’t get to see all the things I wanted to see.  I didn’t get to go in the candle shop, or watch the glass blowers, or visit the candy makers.  Because of mechanical problems I also didn’t get to ride Fire in the Hole.  But I got to spend time with my folks and that meant a lot.

The second day we just went around Branson.  The boys wanted to ride go-carts so we went to a couple of go-cart parks where they also rode bumper cars, bumper boats, and played mini-golf.  Gavin is only four which means there wasn’t much for him to do, but he was big enough to ride with me.  So *I* had to go on the rides.  For him.  Not for me. Got that?  I’m a giving guy and I have no problem riding around a go-cart track every time he feels left out.  No problem at all.

The boys wanted to ride bumper boats.  I remember bumper boats!  You drive around in the cool innertube-like boats that spin really fast if you hold the motor a certain way.  And then you can bump other people, too!  Great fun, great fun…  Turns out these bumper boats had squirt cannons.  Yep.  Got soaked.  Then he wanted to ride again.  Got soakeder.  Didn’t smile for the camera a single time.

Afterwards we played mini-golf.  Well, the boys played.  I gave pointers and kept score.  It was really fun until Gavin got hit in the mouth by a golf-club-swinging-brother.  That’s when I lost my temper and ruined that experience for everyone.  But all their golf scores improved right after that, so maybe yelling is a good coaching tool.

Geneva rode the bumper cars with the boys and lived to regret it.

We finally found some go-carts that Gavin could ride all by himself.  They were really awesome.  The track was a single loop with a hill and the carts had pretty decent power to be so small.  His feet had no trouble touching the pedals and he controlled the steering pretty easily, too.  It was the first time he’s ever driven anything like that and he did a great job.  Unfortunately there was this one kid driving around the track who either had too much sugar or not enough.  Whichever it was, he wasn’t paying attention to anyone else and performed some pretty solid pit maneuvers on several small drivers, my son included.  Just kept pushing on the gas pedal no matter what.  Even when he got trapped facing the railing and this poor kid trying to run the place was doing all he could to turn this numskull’s cart back onto the track.  Yeah, you know his mom thought it was cute.  In the meantime, he was just in his own little world.  When he decided he was through driving he just took his foot off the gas and got out.  Right in the middle of the track!  Little kids zipping all around him and he’s just walking along like he’s Rambo dodging RPGs.  He couldn’t find the exit so he strolled back out to his car and took off again.  Slamming into anyone he saw.  With that, we headed for home.

Back in ‘normal’ life, the blower motor on the heat pump for my house is still acting up.  I spent most of the day on it.  I now have an idea what might be wrong with it, so I’ll try to engineer a fix tomorrow.  Spent too much time outside today and burned a little.  Got so focused that I forgot about Gavin’s baseball game and Garrett’s baseball practice.  Geneva remembered in time to get Gavin to his game, but I’ll have to apologize to Garrett’s coach later.

Geneva’s dad is doing better.  He had his second surgery today and the surgeon said it went so well he won’t need another.  However, he can’t put any real weight on his leg for 8 weeks!  Then he’ll have to use a walker after that.  His doctor is still saying it’ll be 3 months before he can go back to work.  He’s an electrician, so he uses his legs more than anything else.  He has a great sense of humor, but it isn’t available for comment right now.

Well, that’s the news.  Now back to your regularly scheduled blogs.