I forgot to mention, the first day I was here I hurt both thumbs, folding the nails way back, The right one was because I was putting the kneeler up at church, and I would pick the pew where the kneeler is set up high enough to pinch you against the pew. Ow. The other one was a straight-out stubbing. It's amazing how often one uses these opposable thumbs.

They keep calling Roni from church, which I find amazing. How did they get her name? She's not even a C&E Catholic at this point!! RJ let her sleep in on Easter so she missed Mass.

The rotten clock alarm went off just as I was satisfactorily getting back to sleep.

The original plan was to go to Six Flags in Vallejo (formerly Marineworld, which we remember from the South Bay) yesterday but it was raining in the morning. So we postponed it till today. We had the tickets from AAA. Parking is $15!!!! Ouch. Rich said "we need to remember what they are wearing" and I pointed the camera at the littles and took a picture. Not only what they are wearing, but what they look like, since "5-yr-old blonde girl" isn't actually much of a description.

We decided we would let the kids decide what we're doing... I guess it's just as well that the Thomas and Friends area isn't built yet. As it was, we started off to the right and went widdershins around the park. Alex really wanted to do bumper cars, which I wasn't that excited about, but she had plenty of rides. She says 20, and that's probably pretty close. There are also two areas to climb around in... Zoe's tree house and a Looney Tunes area. They saw Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn and Taz.

In between, we saw a lot of animals. I especially liked the butterflies, and the tiger, and most of all, the three cougar cubs. We saw a piece of the elephant show, but Teddy got bored... and when I stopped him from getting stomped on by an elephant, he had a cow. Cranky, time for lunch!

The kids' meals at Six Flags are really good, and Rich and I had delicious chicken strips. Their PB&J sandwiches had been crimped at the edges so they didn't ooze out.

Alex got "afraid" twice... a lot of this sudden fear is for attention, I do believe. Once was when it said she would have to have an adult with her, and I said I could do it. This is the big swing boats. She "was afraid" till she saw it at lunch "I want to do THAT!" and I said "you told me you were too scared!" In the long run, we rode it twice and she would have wanted to go again, at the very end which does get really high indeed. The other "scared" time was to pet the stingrays, and by the time she decided she would, they were nowhere near us. She also was a little worried in the Looney Tunes place because she saw the ball guns. They don't shoot balls any more because kids were throwing them into the animal pens.

Alex wanted to ride all sorts of "too big" rides, but got a lot of good little ones, and middling ones. Her favorite was the kiddie roller coaster. I was sad for a number of kids who stood in the line for 20 minutes only to be turned away for being too big. That sign is right at other places. Our other complaint was no changing tables in the men's facility. We got interviewed on the way in, and I may get an online form to fill out, so I'll be mentioning this.

Even without Thomas, Teddy had a good time, because there was a train! He rode it at least twice. Mean old Djadja wouldn't let him cut in line but made him wait. Tears. Then we saw walruses and penguins.

We left at 4. 7 miles, 6 hours, too much money to count, and four tired people. I made waffle-iron grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Then I held off and held off so Roni's call wouldn't come while they were in the bath, and she held off and held off so that she wouldn't call while they were in the bath.... in the long run, though, we made it.

Proud Pork Party.