What Happened When I Took My Kids On A Roller Coaster

Each week I try to take the kids on a field trip.  It may be as simple as going out for milkshakes.  It's just my way of getting them out and about for a bit as we enjoy our final weeks of summer break.

Yesterday I had planned to take them to a Portland classic, Oaks Park Amusement Park.  We were excited, especially when I agreed to the kid's demands/pleas I go on a roller coaster with them.

I'm the kind of person you don't want to bring to Disneyland.  I stopped The Matterhorn because I didn't feel like I was buckled in properly and experienced an anxiety attack on Space Mountain.  I'm more of a "It's A Small World" kind of ride girl. Talk about a buzz kill.

Nevertheless I've grown a lot since then and figured since I had birthed two babies I could handle a roller coaster in my 40's.

Clad in our unlimited ride bracelets and mom fueled with coffee the kids and I headed out in a fevered pitch, excited to climb aboard the multiple rides that beckoned.

Our first stop was The Screaming Eagle and screaming is literally all I did while I bruised the fingers of both my children from gripping them so tight.

In addition to the feeling of being spun out into space my stomach rebelled but I finished the ride and blamed my unsteadiness on the adrenaline rush.

I endured two more rides before we hit what I consider to be the Mothership.  It's called The Spider and evidently my time card had been punched because no sooner were we suspended mid air did I start heaving, coffee vomit colliding with the ground way below me.

I haven't felt that sick since I had food poisoning from bad sun tea years ago.  I was embarrassed for my kids but they took it in stride and we all agreed to keep our heads down and eyes averted as we exited the ride, blaming the coffee vomit on some other family.  

Lesson learned?  Never drink an iced mocha before riding a roller coaster. However, this is one memory the kids and I aren't likely to forget.  I can see my kid's therapy bill already.