Six Flags Recap, Part II: Jonah

There was no doubt about it - the Wright boys had decided they were going to get the full Six Flags Experience.

I'm not sure which one of was more excited, but suffice it to say that we couldn't not wait to pull into the parking lot. (Mom was excited, too...but there's just something cool about a Dad and his boy riding roller-coasters, right?)

First off, Jonah was great. Those of us who know him well know that patience is not his strongest suit, but he really was great for the whole day.

Up until this trip, the toughest thing Jonah had ever ridden was a very very tame "kiddie koaster" at Fiesta Texas last year. Now, he loved it, but had yet to experience that flipping-stomach-involuntary-scream-experience. I wasn't sure he would want that on this go-round, but we decided to live a little.

First off, El Sombrero. Or "the el sombrero," as Jonah kept calling it. (Which as most of you Spanish speakers know is incorrect.) And that's when I knew...because this rides angled-spinning-lift-and-drop provide the perfect amount of flipping stomach effect. Not too much...just enough to get hooked.

And Jonah did get hooked. He screamed with pure joy for the whole ride and all I could do was laugh. It was great.

From there, we moved to other rides. He rode the Log Flume with Kristen and fell in love with it, asking over and over to get back in line. From there, we took Finley to Looney Tunes Land for some tamer rides. While there, all four of us rode some Wile E. Coyote roller coaster that amped up Jonah even more for the big stuff.

We kept walking the park. At one point, Jonah and I were going to do the giant parachute thing, but Jonah kept saying, "Um, maybe we'll ride that one later," which, in six-year-old speak means I'm terrified at even the idea of riding that thing, Dad.

Then, he and Kristen rode Crazy Legs, which he loved. Kristen...not so much. About halfway through, I noticed she had that vomit look, but she held it together.

And then, things got a little crazy. It happened when I said, "Jonah, do you want to ride Flashback?"

I don't know why I said it.

But he said yes.

They strapped us in and when they started backing us up that track, Jonah started saying he didn't want to do it. Too late.

All of sudden, the locks released and we plunged in so fast, immediately into a loop and then a spin and then I heard the tears. So while I'm fighting the G-force and trying to raise my head to comfort him, we launch up the other side, hold for a beat and then...plunge through all of it again, backwards.

And I kid you not, during one of the loops, I looked over at him and realized I'm looking at my six-year old son and we're running upside on a looping roller coaster. What's wrong with me?

Once we both got our bearings and walked out of the ride, he quickly told me he hated it.

An hour later, he was asking to ride it again. I said no.

From there, we did some carnival game stuff, the El Sombrero two more times, another ride on the Log Flume with the whole family and then another pass on Crazy Legs, which immediately gave ME the vomit look. We capped it off with Aquaman, which drenched us nicely, but we were on our way out of the park, so it was a great finish.

Kristen and I spent the day laughing with Jonah, throwing our hands in the air and screaming as we made all those plunges. We paid ridiculous amounts of money for watered-down drinks and we walked miles and miles in search of the next big thrill.

Since New Years Day 2002, that little boy has been filling my life with laughter and wonder. A day at Six Flags may not be ideal for some, but for me, it was one more chance to look at my son and know that I am highly blessed of God to call this child my own.

Six Flags Recap: Homeschool Family Day

For those of you who don't know, the family and I headed off to Six Flags Arlington on Thursday.

We actually drove to Sanger on Wednesday to see The Conns. Robert was kind enough to let me lead worship and preach a little at his youth service on Wednesday night, which was fun.

Then, on Thursday, Kristen, Jonah, Finley and I drove to Arlington for a very special "Homeschool Family Day" at the park. Since we're really not planning any big vacation this summer, we decided to take a few days and enjoy ourselves without spending too much money. Kristen found the homeschool thing online last week, so we bought our tickets and got up there as quick as we could.

Now, the interesting thing (and the reason for this post) is the questions folks have asked us about our day at Six Flags. Since this was a themed day, the park was open only for homeschoolers, which ended up being very nice - relatively low numbers, everyone was very kind, and we just felt safer hauling our kids around the park when it was filled with homeschool families. But the question we've been getting has been something like:

"So, how was the crowd?"

I understand this question, because I went into this thing fully expecting to be surrounded by people who made their own clothes and managed a large farming commune. So the people who knew we were going have wanted to know just who exactly shows up to Homeschool Family Day? Here's the breakdown..

THE DADS
I'd say there were three types of Dads at the park. I will list them from most popular to least.

1. Golf Shirt Dad
These dads tended to show up in really nice SUVs. Most of them were dressed very "corporate" or even "business casual." These dads also seemed to have larger families (4+ children.) Most of them didn't smile too much, but that could be a product of having to pay for 6 people all day in a theme park.
2. Christian Radio Dad
The second most popular Dad at the park was "Christian Radio Dad." That may seem like a weird description, but they seemed like dudes I know and go to church with who are pretty cool, relatively hip on culture stuff, but still fully embracing their Christian Dad status. I don't know why I'm using Christian radio to describe them. I guess the guys I know personally tend to be big supporters of radio that's safe and fun for the whole family. These guys smiled a lot.
3. Bearded Dad
I expected to see more beards, but they were there in limited quantity. These dads had the hardcore farm look working. They seemed to enjoy the park a lot, but I also saw a lot of them walking around by themselves. Most of them were very large and/or strong.
4. Puff Paint Dad
Puff Paint Dad was there in limited supply. These are the guys most likely to wear shirts with words written in "puff paint." I saw one canary yellow shirt puff-painted with DAD / PRINCIPLE OF WALKER SCHOOL / LOVE YA, DAD! The very few of this quantity seemed to very sweaty, which seemed to prove that they were really busy playing with their kids.

I was really impressed with the number of Dads there. As I get older, I gain more and more respect for those guys who are willing to leave behind their attempts to be cool and embrace their calling to love and educate and parent their children. I respect everyone of these Dads.

THE MOMS
Nothing really surprised me about the moms. I saw a few denim jumpers, but for the most part, the women looked like any other mom. There were quite a few hip moms and one who looked like a bodybuilder. Wasn't expecting THAT.

THE KIDS
I was surprised at how many emo homeschoolers there are. Saw lots of girl pants (not being worn by girls,) lots of jet black hair and hoodies. (Hoodies...in May...in Texas!) I saw a few really well-dressed kids with tucked in shirts or elaborate ensembles. I was also surprised how few "little kids" I saw. The crowd seemed to be a 12 and over bunch.

OTHER SURPRISES
1. One funny shirt that said something like: WARNING, UNSOCIALIZED HOMESCHOOLER; STUDENT WILL BE UNABLE TO MAINTAIN NORMAL SOCIAL CONVERSATION. Thought that was funny. Saw three of these.

2. I'm not near as brave as I used to be. Some of those rides scared me to death.

3. I'm also surprised how mad it makes me to pay $4 for a drink. But a guy needs his Diet Coke, right?
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Jonah had an absolute blast. My next post will tell you more about him and how much fun he and I had together at the park. It was definitely an experience I will not forget.

What We've Done...

If you read my wife's blog - and I strongly encourage to do so - you know that we've decided to home school Jonah.

First of all, let me say that I have been quite surprised by the reactions of people as we've told them. Naturally, our families and close friends have been nothing but supportive, but I've been a bit taken back at how many "Oh, no!" statements I'm hearing. In the more recent conversations about this thing, I've formulated an answer that tends to shut down most cynics:

A homeschooler is only as weird as his parents.

Kristen and I aren't weird. (Not that weird.) Jonah will be okay.

Secondly, I'd like to share WHY we opted to do this now...we had thought about it at the end of last year, but decided to go ahead and give public education a try. We actually have nothing against public education. Kristen came through it all right, and I spent the back half of my schooling there and we're both people with a somewhat consistent level of integrity. But over the past few weeks, here are the things that began to concern (and maybe even "convict" us.)

TIME: Long before we had kids, we decided that Krist would stay home with them. After we had kids, we did this, and truly began to appreciate the miracle of time - the joy and contentment of spending as much time as possible with your offspring. A few years ago, when I began working for county government, I began to appreciate this time thing even more as I was surrounded by women who either chose to work full-time or had to do so to support their families. (Again...nothing against a workin' gal, okay?) But from the very beginning, Krist and I made a committment that we wouldn't be a family that passed each in the halls on the way to our days. We would make time a priority. Plain and simple - we didn't like Jonah being gone for 7 hours a day. Maybe it makes us weird, but we felt there had to be a better way.

INFLUENCE: From the time concern also comes the "influence" factor. As soon as Jonah started school, Kristen began to feel really convicted about influence. It was as if God began telling her that it wasn't time for us to give up so much of our influence on Jonah. That doesn't mean he'll never go to a public school - but for us, and for now - God wants him to spend those crucial influential hours with us.

ACADEMICS: I'm not gonna' brag on my kid. I'll just say this - he's really smart. And we feel that we can do more for his academic growth at this time by teaching him from home.

TIME, PART 2: Another factor is Jonah's strong desire to do "stuff." Jonah wants to learn guitar, he wants to play soccer, he wants to learn karate. We would love for him to do this, but for a kid who normally crashes every night by 7:30, there simply wasn't enough time for us to let him begin pursuing his little dreams. We believe that home school will give us the opportunity to try some of these extracurricular things without undue stress>

THE FUTURE: We don't know what the future holds for us. Honestly, I believe that the next two years are going to be very odd for us. I think the release of the CD is going to increase the travel aspect of my ministry, and although those things take awhile to take effect, we want to be prepared to be a family that can mobilize for ministry. I've decided I'm not going to sacrifice my family on the altar of career - even when the career is ministry. We do this together or not at all.

That's essentially where we stand. We're excited, Jonah's excited and the curriculum gets here Monday. I'm sure you'll be able to find lots of upcoming updates over at Kristen's blog.

Okay, anti-homeschoolers...start griping!