Zonker's

The big day finally came. Zonker's. For Mo's birthday, and a little bit for Em's too.



I did the all day pass thing, which is about $12 a kid, but that's unlimited rides. And ride tickets are $1.25 with rides running one to three tickets. So I'd have to come out ahead with the pass, right?



We were going to do the Python Pit, which is the roller coaster. But it was broken. There were people working on it, so it looked like we might get on it eventually, but it was a no go.



The roller coaster is the whole point of the place, especially as Mo figures it.

We did the Yak Attack, the Banana Planes, and the bumper cars.




And then....

No, we can't do the roller coaster. So then Mo said she wanted to ride the train. But the train ahs a 70 lb weight limit. I asked the guy about it, would she break the train? No, but it might not go very fast.



I was starting to wonder if Mo and Em had outgrown the venue because neither of them seemed that jazzed about going on more rides. Mo still wanted the roller coaster that was broken, and Em was starting to ask to leave.

We did the soft play area. Sort of. Mo did. I tried to buy socks for Em, who was't wearing any, but she decided she'd rather not have fun.

Mo kept asking to ride the train, a ride she had certainly outgrown. The sign stated a 70 lb weight limit. But since the roller coaster was broken I went and asked the guy again, what will happen with a 115 pound kid? Break the train? No, but it might not go fast.

Fast. It's a ride for kids who wear diapers under their jeans. He let her on. I figured her extra weight would be offset by a light load of passengers, there were only a couple other kids waiting. Then a whole preschool rushed the train, and it was a full load. The wheels spun a bit, but it moved, and Mo was delighted. She was three times the size of any other passenger, but she seemed the most delighted rider on the train.

Then Em spotted the face painting booth, and all was saved. Mo did a bunch more climing. And going down slides other kids were on. And going down slides and winding around as she went down.

We moved on. Got sodas, and while we were chilling, I saw a woman I wanted to meet. On one level, it seems weird to notice a chick I'd date when I'm out with my kiddos. But then, when do I go out except with my kids? She was in the next booth, doing a birthday cake for one of her three daughters. With those candles that re-light, and watching her face as she watched her kiddo trying to figure out why they kept re-lighting, I couldn't help crushing on her a bit.



I asked her, don't you not get your birthday wish if the candles don't go out on the first try? She said, 'Not if Mommy cheats.'

So then, after polling the honyocks again, we headed for the Banana Plane again, and then the Yak Attack. The second time on the Yak Attack the girls seemed to get hooked. We did four or five more turns on that and a couple more on the flying bananas.



And I kept seeing this chick who had been in the next booth, but never in proximity where I could strike up a second conversation.

We sat in adjacent cars on the Yak Attack, but the ride is not exactly conversation friendly. Maybe I'm out of practice, but I just can't chat up a chick in a blender.

When we did go to leave, we got half way to the car and I couldn't find my keys. We went back, me thinking I must have lost them on the Yak Attack, sitting cross legged and all. But no one had seen the keys. I asked at a counter then another counter. Then there was the woman I wanted to meet but I needed to find keys, Mo was freaking out with the back and forth.



Then I thought the booth we'd sat in, maybe that's were they fell out of my pocket. Which was right by the booth where the interesting chick was again sitting with her honyocks. One of her kids asked, 'Why is she crying?'



Because she's autistic and overloaded and I can't find my keys but she doesn't seem to get that if I can't find them I can't drive her away from here?

We finally went back out. I thought maybe somehow I'd left them in the ignition of the car. Nope.

I left them on the seat of the car. Brilliant, eh? And I still didn't get a name or a number despite all the times my path crossed that one chick...