July

Free time in July was again mainly spent outside working on house projects. We did get away at the end of July to take the boys to Six Flags in St. Louis. It was a hot day (go figure), but we had a great time! It had been years since I had been to Six Flags in the summer (the last several times had been in the fall for Fright Nights- the Halloween theme is fun, plus it's a lot cooler!). We went on a Friday so the lines weren't out of control. We were able to make our rounds through the park and hit all the major rides. Here's a picture of the boys and me getting ready to take flight on "The Boss." (I won't show you the "after" picture when we returned to the dock!) You might notice that there is someone obviously missing from this picture. Scot decided not to partake in the joys of this roller coaster. I guess the last time he rode the Boss, he felt the effects in his head for the rest of the day. (Cough...wuss!) :) Although, I will admit that I definitely felt pretty banged up after this ride so I can respect his decision. I guess I'm officially getting old!

Scot and Kim on Thunder River (and no, I wasn't naked, despite what the picture looks like!)

After riding all of the major rides, we headed over to the water park, Hurricane Harbor, later in the afternoon. We all got changed into our swimsuits and quickly hurried off to our first water slide. Then we headed off to our second slide- which was the tallest in the park. We climbed all the way to the top of the tower and then, yep, lightning. Of course, the park immediately shut down. So there we were, soaking wet and we only got to go on one slide. Since it was late in the afternoon, most people immediately left the water park. We found a table under an awning, and we decided to wait it out a bit to see if they would reopen. The good news was that after about 45 minutes of waiting, they did reopen the park. The bad news was that it was about 15 minutes before the water park's closing time. We quickly got two more slides in (there were zero people in line at this point), but we felt a little more sense of accomplishment.

Of course, we were soaked to the bone at this point so we headed back over to the amusement park to dry off before the drive home.

A pic of Andy and Matt while we waited in line (forever) for the Scoobie Doo ride. This was, by far, the longest line of the day! By the time we got through this line, we had all dried off from the water park.

It was getting late in the day, so we decided to head for the car. As we were walking through the parking lot, the sky literally opened up and dumped rain out of nowhere. We were all just as soaked as we had been after the water park! We could do nothing but laugh at that point. We headed to the nearest Steak N Shake for dinner and the guys changed clothes there. All in all, it was a great day, full of lots of silliness-- exemplified by the pic of Andy below on the way home!