Dad's Day

While it might not have been the ideal afternoon to go to an amusement park, the three Six Flags season pass holders in our house thought it would be amusing to take their dad for roller coaster rides for Dad's Day. It's convenient that the park is only about 30 minutes away from our house. Best of all, Mr. Smith and I had free admission for the day, so it seemed like a good, inexpensive idea, despite the warmish temperatures and the thousands of others who obviously had the same notion of how to spend Father's Day afternoon.

We even bumped into some of our neighbors at the park. They looked just as hot and sweaty as we felt. Six Flags may not be the "happiest place on earth," but it just might qualify as the hottest place on earth. Crowded, too. It's a good thing that there was a breeze.

The Smithlings' main objective was to get their dad to ride the Shock Wave roller coaster, as it had been about 30 years since he had last ridden it. The wait was not terribly long, and Mr. Smith enjoyed the ride -- with hands in the air, of course -- down memory lane. I happily waited in the shade with a bottle of cold water.

Next, the kids hoped to get their father to ride the iPhone4 eating Texas Giant coaster, but the queue was 90+ minutes long. The 3 Smithlings had just been at Six Flags on Monday with a group of friends, so they didn't care about riding lots of rides. This was their dad's day, after all, so they let their father pick what he wanted to ride. Mr. Smith opted not to wait for this one.

I just had to share a photo of what the Texas Giant can do to a cell phone. During the kids' visit on Monday, our son's cell phone slipped out of the pocket of his pants and was devoured by the "Giant." Ouch. This phone was pretty much gutted. Thankfully, the SIM card was still inside, so it wasn't a total loss. (I'm always the optimist.)

Papa Smith will just have to wait until another not-so-crowded day to ride the TX Giant. And all cell phones will be safely stowed.

Q: Can you name the six flags that have flown over Texas soil?

A: Spain, France, Mexico, Texas Republic, Confederate, and United States

The Five Smiths?

Park Admission: $0

Water from the water fountain: $0

Waiting in line: Forever

Temperature: 102º F

Time with Dad on Father's Day: Priceless!

"There are some things money can't buy."

After waiting in seemingly endless lines for the better part of the afternoon, and only getting to ride a few rides, we decided to leave Six Flags in search of food. We treated Papa Smith to a yummy dinner at Pappasito's Cantina. Funny how Mr. Smith was the one who paid the bill. Happy Father's Day, huh?
"For everything else, there's MasterCard."