Saturday, August 9, 2008

Speed Demon

I decided I wanted to take Amaya to the Honolulu Family Fair at Magic Island yesterday. Jake was kind enough to oblige, so we braved what we thought would be tons of traffic and tons of people for greasy food and ride some gut wrenchers directly after eating. We parked far away at Ala Moana, thinking there would be no way to get in to the park, but there weren't very many people. It was just about the perfect size.

We bought our tickets and first took Amaya on the carousel, and the spinning tea cups type ride. She actually understood that turning the wheel spun the car. She was doing it as fast as she could by the end and the guy had to stop us so he could unlock the door. Luckily for us, the company who runs the amusement park doesn't care how tall you are as long as you are "accompanied by a responsible adult, who will use proper judgement" in bringing you along on a ride that you should probably be banned from. That really opened up the possibilities.

Yeah. I took Amaya on the roller coaster.

Granted, it was a kiddie coaster, no loops and huge dips, but there was some speed, rising and falling of the stomach, and quick turns. Amaya was definitely the littlest kid on there. If anything, I was worried about the tracks actually holding up.

Right before it was our turn to get on, I heard two of the operators laughing. "Yeah!" he remarked, "that last one was super fast! I guess the rain makes it go faster around those curves!" I still didn't pull out though.

I asked Amaya one more time if she still wanted to go on. "Yep," was her reply.

We strapped in, I held tight to Amaya, slightly worried she would get bumped out, and when we started around the first time I looked down at her. She was still smiling. I encouraged her by saying, "Wheeeeee!" and every other person on the ride was screaming bloody murder for effect. I thought that would probably scare her. Somehow she picked up on the idea that the screaming was for fun. By the second time around I could hear her yelling, "WOOOOOOOO!" She totally knew the appropriate times for reacting.

So I'm a proud mama bear. She may not want to drink her vegetable chocolate milk powder in the morning, potty train, or sit down through dinner, but she likes a good carnival ride.



Although I really really really wanted to eat a funnel cake, fried oreos, and a fried twinkie (I still have never tried any of those things), I relented and let Jake take me back to Ala Moana for a classier dessert. On our way to Panya bakery, we saw La Palme D'Or Patisserie. (I forgot my camera, so I stole this picture from Yelp: bel d. Thanks)

Yummmmmm. I got flourless chocolate cake and mango pudding to share. Then we went to Panya and got some Hokkaido Milk bread pudding. A pretty good way to end the evening.

7 comments:

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

come to santa Cruz so I can take her to the boardwalk. She would have a blast.

Enzo is super duper scary cat of the rides, even the baby ones, except for the train one which he loves.

Karen said...

go, amaya.

Unknown said...

nice. love it!

Jesse said...

Could it she loves roller coasters because her dad keeps her airborn a lot of the time? Just a thought. Sounds like a fun day.

Robbie said...

too bad we couldn't go with you guys! But it would've been even more fun if we had a toddler as well to put up to the challenge of the roller coaster. :) Gotta love Amaya!

Melinda said...

i think jesse's right. jake's already a roller coaster. not emotionally, or mentally, or anything, you know.
anyway you mean you prefer mango pudding to fried twinkies? i would too. the thought makes me cringe.

Unknown said...

I found a new recipe we should make this weekend (before I leave HI):

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ichigo-Daifuku-Japanese-Sweet-bean-and-Strawberr/?utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=080831

Moana