Lakeside: Slow and Steady Fun

Because of the summer reading program at our library, Maeve got to try out Lakeside, our local amusement park, yesterday afternoon. I wouldn't pay money for it, but it was fun to do for free, and I forgot the strange, oddly pleasing aesthetic of the place. Bright colors, old rides, much less spooky in the daylight.

Anyway, Maeve was pretty timid at first. I made the mistake of letting her try a more exciting ride first (the turtle "roller coaster" for little kids) and she did not enjoy it, she put her head down the whole time and even cried a little.

But every ride after that, we watched the other kids ride it, first, to see if she thought she'd like it, and after doing that, she gave many rides a chance and loved them. Every time she left the ride, she thanked the attendant and told him his ride was awesome or great.

In fact, she definitely rode some rides that I rode as a child - I think maybe I didn't like the turtle roller coaster either - but I do remember the ladybugs, and the motorcycles, and the cars. Maeve had so much fun, and even tried a mini-version of The Whip which seemed to both frighten and entertain her, so she was starting to get into the spirit of the thing. It's funny, though, in all the pictures I took, she had a very solemn look on her face - I promise she kept giving me big thumbs up after each one, but during them, she mostly looked like this:

We'll definitely go back when we get our free tickets next year.