Conquering Fears

I am not a big fan of amusement parks, mainly because I am not a fan of rides. In fact, I am a "'fraidy-cat" when it comes to rides. Even the little baby rides. Sure, there was a time when I gamely went on roller coasters at Canada's Wonderland, but that was only because the trip to the amusement park was a date. Now that I'm married to the guy, I figured my days of having to brave the rides were over. Then came the kids. So, once again, I'm having to swallow my fears and get on the rides with the kids. Until this year, the rides haven't been too bad. Either I am too tall or the rides have been gentle enough for my queasy stomach. I'm one of those individuals who get sick on the merry-go-round, but I fake the smile while I hold onto dear life. Hold onto my child and the seat, that is.
Well, this weekend I had to conquer my fears of water rides. We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls to celebrate Ceilidh's birthday. The children were excited about sleeping in a hotel. They insisted on checking into our room quickly so they could "go to sleep". So tired, that they were not impressed at all with the Falls themselves when we took a drive past them. Although we tried to impress upon our monkeys they were viewing one of the seven wonders of the world, the grandeur of the rushing water was lost among the anticipation of sleeping in a different room. Upon entering the lobby with the talking moose and bear, all thoughts of sleep were gone. They weren't very tired at all once they realized they could jump from bed to bed, and they discovered just how bouncy the beds were!
Although the kids were eager to head to the waterpark the next morning, we managed to delay them a few hours by heading out for breakfast. There was also a stop at the grocery store to pick up essentials, like milk and snacks that would otherwise cost a small fortune at the Lodge itself. By the time we were in our bathing suits, the kids were raring to go.
First, we toured the various rides and pools. Then we had to figure out which ones Devlin and Ceilidh were able to go on, and which ones Aisling were not. Unfortunately, Aisling was limited to three attractions - the froggie slide at the outdoor pool, the lazy river, and the family water raft roller coaster. I was more than happy to stick to the lazy river and the outside pool. Aisling was too, until it started raining outside. So we headed indoors to the lazy river, which required me maneuvering onto an inner tube and then grabbing a hold of Aisling while not being swept away by the current. Easier said than done. In reality, the actual getting positioned onto the tube required much more grace and finesse than I possessed.
Things were going well, until Daddy and Ceilidh returned from the raft ride. Their excitement convinced Devlin to give it a try, although he would only go on it with me. Since it had taken several minutes for him to screw up the courage to go down the smaller water slides, this was a big step for me. So, despite the fact that my heart was beating rather rapidly, and my knees were shaking, we climbed three flights of stairs to get to the raft ride. Essentially, it's a water slide that you ride down inside a circular raft. I'm sure the ride is only 30-45 seconds long, although it felt a lot longer. Both he and I clung to the raft with whitened knuckles. Devlin's face was frozen in fright. Seeing that, I forced myself to scream in "delight" and laugh to ease his fear.When we splashed down at the bottom, Devlin declared, "That was sooo cool. It was awesome. Let's go again!" We did, and when Aisling had her turn with me, I held onto her tightly. I had an irrational fear that a bump would dislodge my little one and send her flying out of the raft.
We spent two days at the waterpark. The next day, Devlin went on another water slide ride with Daddy - this one requiring a double inner tube. His sister Ceilidh had already tried, and was bubbling over with enthusiasm as she described the ride. So off he went. Then he returned, this time determined to have Mommy go on the ride with him. This was mere hours after he had asked me to go down the water slides with him. Another Mommy chore that I could have done without. So, off we went to retrieve an inner tube and stand in line.
D: Mommy, don't worry. The line-up isn't very long.
M: Well, which ride shall we go on?
D: There's a blue one, and a yellow one, and different blue one that you can only go by yourself. We should go on the other blue one so we can go together.
M: What about yellow?
D: No, Mommy. The yellow one is too slow. It's soo slow. The blue one is better.

So, again I positioned myself in the inner tube and clasped Devlin tightly with my legs. Again, not very graceful. But the ride was fun.As was the entire weekend at the waterpark. Who knew that having kids meant having to face your fears, or at least set them aside for the sake of the kids?