Day 38: Childhood Memories Revisited – Part I

The boys and I spent most of the day at the amusement park at Cedar Point, a staple of my childhood.

Cedar Point is the place with the most serious social distancing restrictions we have encountered. The lines for all rides had markers that were at least 10 feet apart. Each ride appeared to have a person dedicated to enforcing the distancing restrictions. Masks were required everywhere but when eating or drinking and in a few relaxation stations with well spaced benches for sitting without a mask. Ride seats and safety bars were wiped down between each ride and all rides seemed to be regularly shut down for more extensive cleaning.

I don’t know if it was the fact that we had gotten used to lots of mask-free time out west or the fact that it was 90+ degrees and I had Lucas on my shoulders much of the day, but this is the first time I felt that wearing the mask was unbearable.

It also didn’t help that the boys dragged me on the Tilt-a-Whirl and Pipe Scream rides. The biggest downside to being an older parent I have found is that little kids love spinning rides but that tolerance of needless, repeated spinning around declines logarithmically with age. I am going to celebrate the day that both of the boys are tall enough to go on these rides without me. All I need is for Lucas to grow another 4-5 inches before next summer.

One of the ways that the boys and I regularly tease each other is by squeezing each other’s biceps and saying “your muscles are soooo squishy.” It is part of my Hans and Franz approach to parenting. The wait for the train ride was quite long. Will, naturally, was aimlessly wandering around the waiting area making a variety of noises tied to the story he was currently dreaming up in his head. As he wandered back towards Lucas and I, he grabbed the upper arm of the middle age guy in front of us in line and said (I would later learn) “your muscles are so squishy.” Both looked completely startled and confused. Will because he quickly realized that it wasn’t my bicep that he was squeezing. The man presumably because he didn’t expect a little kid to be telling him that his bicep was inadequate. It made Lucas and I laugh.

We had to leave the park a little early for an emergency Friday night board meeting at 6:30. I haven’t found any great solutions for Zoom meetings on the road trip. Much to my surprise, the pool has been the best of a bad choice set. So we jogged from the park to the camp store, where I grabbed them each an ice cream sandwich as penance for making us leave the park prematurely, and then they speed-changed into their swim suits so we could get to the pool before the meeting started.