As Ring Luck would have it

The contents of this post happened in July 2010.   I was very impressed by the Six Flags America theme park when we visited this past summer. The park was clean, the employees were friendly, and the other guests hardly laughed at all upon seeing someone lugging around a fully loaded double stroller missing its two rear wheels.   As always, family trips are an adventure at our house. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to throw hours of  intense planning and preparation out the window. But sometimes, you do whatever it takes.   So, when we planned a day trip to an amusement park with our 10-year old son, and two 3-year old daughters, we figured we should be prepared. We packed our big double stroller, capable of carrying two small children plus several weeks’ worth of supplies. We packed a few gallons of suntan lotion and swimming stuff for the water park. To save money, we packed a lunch in a cooler and planned on having it in the parking lot. We had coupons for drinks and

We arrived 15 minutes early for once. That should have been my first clue that something was horribly wrong. You see, my wife and I have 3 kids, and two of them are twin 3-year old girls. We never get anywhere early. Getting everyone out the door in the morning is like pulling teeth, except teeth are indifferent and not actively opposing your attempts at getting anything done. So we never get anywhere when we’re supposed to be there. If we arrive at all, we consider it a success. The morning started like every other morning…for me, anyway. That means it was one minor disaster after another. The girls were every excited because that day was the day one of their friends was having a birthday party, and they had been looking forward to it all week. We know this, because every morning they asked us if there was no day care, and if it was the party day. Repeatedly. The first thing that happened was that our brand-new Blu-ray player (right out of the box) had some sort of cardboard ad