No Coincidences

Category: Family

  • Trip Report – Kayaking Horseshoe Bend

    Trip Report – Kayaking Horseshoe Bend

    My family and I went on river trip to Horseshoe Bend. Lees Ferry, the launch off point was roughly 4 hours from my family in Las Vegas and from me in Scottsdale. I left at 4:00am to get to the launch point by 8:30.

    15 miles out my car died, and I coasted those last miles until I reached the overnight lot across from Lees Ferry. I was lucky I made it. I didn’t have time to worry about the car because we were late and needed to get on our boat.

    My family arrived and we quickly organized our wet bags and loaded our kayaks. It was ~an hour boat ride to the dam. We unloaded our kayaks and equipment, then loaded up our kayaks for the trip down the river.

    It was beautiful. We were surrounded by 1000 foot high red rocks. You could see how this canyon had been sculpted by so much water over so much time. It was spectacular.

    The water was freezing. It is 47 degrees year-round, never heats up. Cold. We were off down the river. During our boat ride up the river our guide pointed out campsites, hikes, notable features, and other stops. Our first stop was going to be a good one. Our guide pointed out a white rope, barely visible, dangling along the canyon wall.

    We got off at the first stop and hiked up the red rocks to the white rope. It was dangling ~30 feet straight up a canyon wall. I was the first to climb up it. Easton went next stating, “If it held him it will hold me.” There were two main ropes that went straight up the canyon wall. After that there were a dozen more ropes helping you up crevices, canyon walls, and through gaps. I think it was the best hike I’ve ever done. At the end were near the top of the canyon, looking down at the now tiny river below.

    We hiked back down, the ropes being even more exhilarating going down than up. We made a fire and had hotdogs. At one point during lunch a huge gust of wind came along and shot dirt and pebbles at us. This was not pleasant and not a good sign. Luckily it was the only such experience we had the whole weekend.

    We packed back up and were on our way back down the river.

    We came to our second stop. It was just down from a campground my mom wanted. Unfortunately, that campground was already taken by a group of women. We found a good beach and my parents started exploring the area. I sat in my kayak on the beach and dozed off. That 3:45am start was catching up to me.

    There are many campsites down the river to choose from. This would be one of the first options. The next couple sites would be around Horseshoe bend itself. During our boat ride the guide let us know those were by far the most popular sites. Made sense. A lot of people probably kayaked/boated/paddle boarded this river simply for the Horseshoe Bend portion.

    The area we were at had a decent campsite that wasn’t taken. There was already a guy and his son camped out in the best area overlooking the river. The main downside to our campsite would be lack of view. It was up into the trees a bit and we wouldn’t be able to see the river at all. But it was a 10 second walk down to the beach that no one had claimed so we decided to make it our spot. We were worried about the Horseshoe Bend sites being too crowded and this was about as good as it got, we guessed.

    Pro tip: fall asleep like this so when you wake up camp is setup

    That night we invented a cornhole-like game in the sand, played 3 flags up, 2 on 2 football, cards, and ate copious amounts of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate.

    The next morning I woke up first and went down to the beach. I stretched and read. It was the most peaceful time I’d had in a long time. Except for the duck that didn’t stop quacking for an hour straight.

    The fisher’s boat who camped by us got beached and he asked for some help getting it un-stuck. Garrick, Garrick’s friend Hunter, and myself moved the boat back into the water. It was the perfect amount of exertion in the sun to warrant my first plunge into the freezing water. I ran into the water. I must restate – it was freezing. I end every shower I take making it as cold as I can. The coldest shower in Scottsdale doesn’t come close to that water.

    We packed up camp and started down the river for our final day. We travelled roughly 4 miles the first day and had 7 to go.

    My parents have some really nice kayaks with tons of space and lawn chairs setup to sit in. They look like a king and queen up on their lawn chairs kayaking next to us sitting in the other dinky kayaks they have. My mom and dad let Dresdan and I experience the king and queen kayak treatment for much of the river. My mom would drift behind. I thought she wasn’t paddling hard, was weak, or was just coasting. More on that later.

    We stopped and looked at some petroglyphs that were really neat. We continued on and were searching for a cliff jump our guide told us about but forgot to point out. We knew roughly what mile it was at and were told to “look for a big boulder.”

    We found a big boulder. There were some trees that needed to be climbed through to get behind the boulder. Garrick and I got out of our kayaks and made our way through the trees. Now we had to navigate our way on top of this boulder. I found a tree that could be climbed so I could shimmy up the boulder. I was on top!

    I went to the edge. I asked my dad to poke his paddle into the water to find a deep enough spot to jump. I could see the huge rock in the water that I needed to avoid. Next to us was a smaller rock. The water was clear in front of it. We realized that was definitely the cliff jump our guide was talking about. But it was like 7 feet high. Hardly worth it. Our jump had the exhilaration of needing to clear a huge rock to be safe, plus about 15 feet of air.

    I jumped quickly. Can’t think about these things too much. What was way more exhilarating than the jump was the icy plunge. Again, it was freezing!

    We continued our kayaking. We were going very leisurely, taking our time. The last thing we wanted was to get to the ferry with tons of time that we could have spent on the river or hiking. There was a hike we intended to do still coming up. It was likely our last activity before the last miles to the ferry.

    We came to the hike and for the first time realized it was 5:00pm. We didn’t want to be kayaking after the sun went down. We probably would have enjoyed that hike a lot more, and done a lot more exploring, but we were now in a rush. We quickly went through it and got back to our boats.

    I swapped kayaks with my mom. Remember earlier when I thought she was just weak? Now that we were in a rush everyone started paddling as quickly as they could. We were on a time crunch.

    I paddled, and paddled, and paddled, and watched everyone fly ahead of me. I was quickly at least 200 yards behind anyone else. My mom wasn’t weak, the kayak she’d been using was a brick!

    I’ve hiked rim to rim at the Grand Canyon and that was the hardest single physical act I’ve ever done. This might have been second. It was grueling.

    Part of the problem was the wind blowing against us. If I stopped paddling for 10 seconds I’d lose 5 minutes of work. It was brutal. I decided I couldn’t stop paddling for even a second or else I would get pushed back and have wasted all that energy. I started counting my continuous strokes. 300, 10 second break. Start over. 400, 10 second break. Start over. 500, 10 second break. Start over. 600. After 600, I stopped counting, I never stopped. For almost 2 hours I didn’t stop paddling for one second. No water breaks, no breaths.

    I couldn’t decide what was worse – paddling as hard as I could and watching everyone fly ahead of me, or paddling as hard as I could and watching Easton in my dad’s kayak, not paddling at all, getting further ahead from me.

    It was hard, and awesome.

    We got back to the ferry, emptied our kayaks, loaded them into the car, and it was now a 4 hour drive for each of us to our respective homes.

    It was an awesome trip. We’re already planning our next one. Next time I’ll probably bring my inflatable kayak. I recommend this trip to anyone. It was great.

  • Blessing of Sickness

    Blessing of Sickness

    I think getting sick is a great blessing.

    Before anyone gets mad at me, let me clarify. I think short-term, temporary, not too dangerous, not too terrible sickness can be a great blessing. I’m talking the colds, the stomach bugs, the flu, the non-life threatening sicknesses are the best. Being sick sucks. It’s miserable. I’m the cliché ‘whine and cry more than anyone about being sick’ person, but, I am so grateful for sickness.

    Let me elaborate with a specific example.

    Sage started throwing up like crazy at 9:30pm, soon after going to bed. I got her out of bed. She was projectile vomiting and writhing in pain. We ended up at the hospital. We brought Sage home around 1:30am.

    Sage went right to sleep in our bed with Beth. I slept on the couch. I think I finally fell asleep around 2:00am. At 4:00am I awoke to a familiar sound, but this time it wasn’t Sage. My worry had come true. Ivy was crying. I ran to her room and turned on the light to find her, her pillow, and her quilt covered in throw up.

    I knew more was coming and was too exhausted to do the whole strip the bed and cleanup routine so I’m ashamed (not really, actually) to say I just cleaned it up and told Ivy to lay back down. I wiped her mouth, got a bucket, made sure she was comfortable, got a blanket and pillow for myself, and laid down next to her.

    For the next 2.5 hours, I could have set my watch to Ivy throwing up. Every 20 minutes from 4:00am to 6:20am when we finally got up, she would throw up. Just enough time for me to start to doze off while holding her hand. I’d hear it start, I’d jump up and give her the bucket, I’d wipe up any that missed, I’d wipe her mouth. Rinse repeat (pun intended?).

    This all sounds miserable, right? Where is the blessing in this? This is horrible!

    Well, it kind of is. No doubt it is heartbreaking watching your little ones be sick. It is heartbreaking. They can’t control it. They don’t know what’s going on. It’s sad.

    At 6:20am Ivy and I got up and cuddled on the couch. We put on the cartoon Doug by Ivy’s demand. 18 minutes into a 23-minute episode she said, “This episode is too long put on something else.”

    Ivy and I proceeded to have a Boy Meets World marathon. She was Sean for the rest of the day. I was Cory. Sage was Morgan. Sometimes I was Allen. If you don’t know those characters, step up your Boy Meets World knowledge.

    Sage woke up around 8am or something. This is all a blur now as I hadn’t really slept at all. Sage ate some grapes and I immediately put her back to sleep. Ivy and I were back to our marathon.

    Beth mentioned I should go pick up our prescription of Zofran. As exhausted as I was, I decided this was the best opportunity for me to do that. Ivy was getting tired. She went into the room with Beth to lie down and I packed up to go down the street to the pharmacy.

    Oh did I mention Beth was sick the whole day too? Side note, this is how things go in our family, I’ll likely be puking my guts out 24-48 hours after the rest of the family, I always catch these things on a delay. We joke it’s my Quackenbush DNA. My girls only have 50% of the Quackenbush DNA. The virus will get me, but I’ll fight it off for a while. (I can even more gratefully say now, as I wrote this a couple weeks ago, that I never got this sickness, boo-yah).

    I came back from the pharmacy and luckily got to sleep for an hour(?) before Sage woke up. I got Sage up and fed her some food. We spent an hour bonding, cuddling, and snuggling in the living room before Ivy woke up. I put Sage back to sleep and Ivy and I continued our BMW marathon before going on a walk.

    We walked around the neighborhood, sat in the grass, played eye spy.

    You get the picture.

    Came back. Sage was up. Feed Sage. Bathe Sage.

    Long day.

    Awesome day.

    It’s so hard to slow down in this world.

    Sickness makes us slow down. This was a special day. This is a day I will treasure.

    There were so many special moments. Like on our walk when Ivy held my hand to make me feel safe. Or when Ivy asked on our walk if I knew where the dumpster was and then told me, “You’re absolutely right.” All those sad but tender moments of grabbing a bucket and holding Ivy and telling her, “I’m here, you’re OK, I’ve got you” while she retched and threw up. Sage cuddling in my lap and looking up at me and I knew she knew she was safe and going to be okay. Seeing Sage and Ivy get better before my eyes – getting back to their normal selves.

    There were so many moments that were so important with my girls that day.

    I wouldn’t have had those moments if not for their sickness.

    Being sick is miserable. But it can also be really special.

    One final memorable moment – Ivy was going potty and I was about to get in the shower. I told her, “I’m going to shower and when I get out I’ll get you some food. You can have nachos or noodles or toast or crackers or a sandwich. Think about what you want when I get out.” Ivy’s response, “Dad, I’m not going to think of all those things.”

  • Becoming a Father

    Becoming a Father

    I wrote and posted a first 48 hour update when Ivy was born. At the time I wrote some ramblings from the hospital. I never posted but wanted to share, even though it’s been a couple years since this was written. It’s funny to read back on the simplicity of a newborn. Oh how life has changed with two little ones. Here are those ramblings followed by a thought about my grandparents at the end:

    36 hours in the hospital.

    Swaddling and diapers.

    Resting and food.

    That seems to be the cycle of the last 36 hours. Beth feeds Ivy, change diaper, swaddle, Beth feeds Ivy, breakfast. Repeat before lunch. Repeat before dinner. In between that is rest.

    I’ve never spent this much time in a hospital. I know many have. It’s an interesting existence. I can’t say I dislike it too much. I have writing, reading, tv. What else could I need? Oh, my wife and baby.

    Ivy has been so great. She only sleeps and eats. Those are her two modes so far.

    I’m told this won’t last long. My fingers are still crossed.

    We’ve joked that thus far she has my demeanor (calm?) I’m hopeful it continues.

    I can’t say enough about how kind the nurses have been here. They have been so helpful, attentive, patient. All the good things.

    In the morning soon before the 24-hour mark we mentioned we would like to go home if that was a possibility. Within an hour it felt like 5 nurses came in to do this check or that, this test, that test. I guess they’re fine with us leaving if we’d like to. We live near the hospital so it’s not a worry to us to leave.

    My grandfather, Frank Leach, called me while in the hospital. We had a great discussion about life, parenthood, and faith. With this new life, Ivy James, in my life, and this call from one of my progenitors, it got me thinking about the Circle of Life.

    Disney’s song gives a touchingly accurate portrayal of the Father’s Plan for us here. What would I be without my grandparents? Love has afforded me much.

    What would I be without the foundation they laid? Three of my grandparents are converts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayers are often filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for faith-filled grandparents who did really difficult things, made difficult life choices, made difficult changes, so that I could enjoy the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ today. 

    My grandparents on both sides are spiritual giants and I have been extraordinarily blessed by them and the lives they lived.

    Thank you, Virginia Quackenbush, Stan Quackenbush, Sandra Leach, and Frank Leach. How blessed I am to forever have you and thank you for all you’ve afforded me.

    Re-reading this and now thinking about my Ivy and my Sage. How different Sage is from Ivy. More on that another day. How lucky I am to have this little family.

  • Letter to Grandpa Q

    Letter to Grandpa Q

    My grandpa Stan recently turned 90 years old. For his birthday, all his children and grandchildren wrote him a letter. This is the letter I wrote to my grandpa.

    Grandpa,

    One of my earliest memories was my first and only trip to Grandaddy Lake. It was horrible. Keep in mind, I was maybe 4. It rained the whole time. It was so miserable. But I still remember it.

    I remember hiking back after the long week there. It was raining. I’m not sure it ever stopped raining. I was walking through mud, and I was crying. Everyone else was hiking with big backpacks for the trip. I had my little toy backpack on, and I was crying about it, about the hike, about the rain, about the mud, about my miserable existence.

    You got frustrated with me. It was the only time I recall seeing you frustrated/angry/mad. I cried more.

    My dad took my little backpack. I still have a memory of my dad shirtless, hiking in the rain. He was hiking now with his huge backpack on his back and my little backpack on his shoulder.

    I looked around at all my aunts, uncles, you, and my dad and realized no one else was complaining. Everyone was cold, wet, and frustrated, but no one was complaining.

    This core memory has stuck with me. I like to think it impacted me and in some minor, or possibly major ways, has shaped me.

    The Las Vegas Quackenbush clan (my family) has never been to Granddaddy Lake. We have our modern-day equivalent. We now go to the theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain multiple times a year. It is a requirement that any future in-law go through the gauntlet of a 12-hour day at Magic Mountain before they can even think about being accepted into the family.

    When Beth came to Six Flags with us for the first time, we were all so happy because there was a high heat warning. The lines were great! Meanwhile, we almost died. My roommate came with us to Six Flags once. He’s sworn to never return.

    I now have two daughters that I joke, tongue-in-cheek, about needing to remove as much Cannon from (Beth’s maiden name) and insert as much Quackenbush into as possible.

    This is the Grandaddy Lake mindset. More importantly, this is what it is to be a Quackenbush. I take pride in my name.

    I take pride in you.

    I take pride in our pioneer roots.

    I take pride in the foundation of faith I have been afforded.

    I take pride in what you and Grandma built, for me.

    I take pride in what you and Grandma built, for my family, for my daughters.

    I want to thank you for choosing an eternal companion of from among the devoted young women of The Kingdom. That is a line from my patriarchal blessing. I was able to choose an eternal companion who is an amazing mother, wife, and person because of you. I am able to raise my daughters with a confidence in things eternal because of you and Grandma. I am able to see the bigger picture, endure, have faith, progress, learn, grow, and get better, all with an understanding of who I am and where I come from, because of you and Grandma.

    I don’t know what I did to earn the position in the family I’ve been given, but I thank you.

    I look forward to one day having a life review. I hope to see some or all of your life review and Grandma’s life review. I look forward to one day seeing all the sacrifices endured and trials met head on by Grandma and yourself so that I could have the mortal experience I have been afforded. You and Grandma are a foundation. You created a foundation. In this life I’ll never fully understand all you went through and struggled with so I could have what I have. One day, I hope to understand. On that day, I will stand, and I will kneel, and I will thank my progenitors, you, for what you did for me. We all will.

    Thank you. We love you. We are grateful for you.

    With all the love you deserve, and I can give,

    Brayden

  • Ivy and Six Flags 2023

    Ivy and Six Flags 2023

    Well, we did it. Ivy is officially a Quackenbush. She had her first day trip to Six Flags. And just as I expected, she didn’t disappoint.

    We got up at 5:30am to drive straight to the park. On the drive there I told Ivy, “This will be a day I will remember for the rest of my life.” I realized, good or bad, this would be a memorable experience. It’s ultimately why I decided to go through with it.

    We stopped along the way for our road trip tradition: a frozen treat.

    We stopped at Wendy’s before going into Six Flags. Ivy had a couple bites of her burger and a couple fries.

    Our first ride was the Grand Carousel. Ivy loves carousels and had been talking about the carousel from the moment she learned she was going to Six Flags. She loved it.

    Next, we went on the school bus. It’s a little yellow bus that lifts up and loops around in a circle. This was a big moment. It was Ivy’s first real ride. She loved it. She cracked one big smile early on, lifted her hands straight in the air. Then the ride got a bit repetitive and Ivy settled into a stoic, serious, forward-staring face. I was worried about this for a moment before I remembered that’s exactly how she rides when trailing a bike in her bike cart. She gets really serious. But if you try to take her out of the bike cart, she gets upset. She was loving the ride in her own way.

    Blankie joined on the Elmer Fudd Hot Air Balloons.

    We rode various other rides that Ivy loved. She especially loved dragging Grandpa into the Tweetie Bird cages.

    Then we came to the roller coaster train. This would be her first serious ride. It was a little wooden roller coaster. This ride was significant not only because it was fast and a roller coaster, but also because it was the first ride I couldn’t join her on. She would have to do this one on her own.

    There was one other girl in line to ride. This girl was probably 10 years old. The ride operator kindly asked the 10-year-old if Ivy could ride with her so she didn’t have to be alone. I asked Ivy if she’d like that. She shook her head and promptly walked to the second cart and stepped in.

    From my place behind the metal railing, I watched with anticipation. This was the moment. I told Ivy to put her hands up and she promptly lifted both straight up in the air. It was an awesome moment as a dad; watching the coaster slowly go up the first little hill and watching intently as it went around a corner and took its first fast drop. The joy I saw on Ivy’s face. It was something I’ll never forget. It was complete thrill and happiness. I almost teared up. I was so happy that my big girl was experiencing so much joy with an activity that also gave me joy.

    From there we went and did crafts under a tent in 100-degree heat. It was hot. There was a trick-or-treat activity in a couple hours so Ivy made a mask. From our spot under the tent, we could see the biggest roller coaster at Six Flags, Goliath. Ivy looked up at it and said, “I want to ride that one. I finish craft, then do that one.”

    Given that Ivy had a desire to ride Goliath, I decided to push my luck. Going into our trip I had very clear instructions from Beth on one particular item: DO NOT take Ivy on the Pirate Ship. This Pirate Ship if you’re not aware:

    Well, you have to be ready to adjust given new data. And Ivy had provided plenty of signs that she was ready for the Pirate Ship. It was right across from Goliath and I considered it a better option than that, after all.

    We entered the Pirate Ship. I decided to really push my luck. Instead of going to the lowest seats (the least extreme), I went right in the middle. This little girl, again about ten years old, and her mom, sat next to us. The ride started. Ivy was excited. Then that first gut-wrenching Pirate Ship tickle we all love hit. Some kids across from us were being silly and being extra loud and screaming acting like they were terrified. Or maybe they were terrified. Ivy started to panic. The ten-year-old next to us looked over with concern. The Pirate Ship got higher and higher. Ivy started to panic more and more. I started to worry that I’d have to do that thing where I put my hand over my mouth and raise my other hand to get the ride to stop.

    I needed to think quickly. Remember how Ivy likes nicknames (Ivy Thoughts Part 2)? I pulled her close to me, leaned in, and said, “You’re OK Jake Sully, you’re brave.” Jake Sully is the main character in Avatar, for those who don’t know, which I assume is pretty much everyone. That was her recent brave character and once she heard she was Jake Sully and she was brave, she got through it.

    When we got off the ride I was ecstatic, and so was Ivy. “Did you love it?!” I asked her.

    “No.”

    “You didn’t like it?” I asked.

    “I no like that one, it make my body feel icky.” Later she told my whole family she didn’t like the Pirate Ship because it tickled her tummy.

    That said, with great risk sometimes comes great reward. Like the trip to Six Flags in general, I knew the trip would be memorable because it would be equal parts fun and hard. The Pirate Ship, the biggest risk I took at Six Flags (to that point), became the number one thing Ivy talked about. For weeks she would talk to Beth and I about the Pirate Ship she rode.

    Our visit was during Fright Fest. If you haven’t been to Fright Fest at Six Flags, it’s no joke. It’s a pretty intense experience. There are tons of people dressed up as monsters. From five-foot-tall women dressed as witches to 20-foot-tall creepy tree-armed monsters, to long-nosed creatures with sparks on their feet that skate around.

    An announcement would come over the loudspeakers every couple hours during the day. The announcement stated that no one was safe after 7:00pm. The park would turn into a horror zone at that point.

    My dad, Dresdan, Garrick, and I got off the ride Twisted Colossus and as we stepped off, we heard 3 creepy gongs. Fright Fest was starting. We didn’t know where Ivy and my mom were. My mom hadn’t had her phone for hours. The last message we had received stated that Cambria was with them at Wonder Woman. I rushed over. I didn’t want Ivy to be without me when the horror started. As I rushed toward Wonder Woman, I hit a wall of people holding their phones up over the crowd. There was a stage with a cleared path leading up to it. Suddenly dozens of people dressed in creepy costumes came parading toward the stage. Then pandemonium broke out. The monsters started running around, skating and creating sparks, and scaring everyone. People started running around. It felt genuinely dangerous for a moment.

    We rushed to Wonder Woman and couldn’t find Ivy or my mom anywhere. I started trying to guess where my mom would take Ivy to protect her from the chaos. Surely the kids’ zone was still safe since it just started right? We started heading across the park to where the kids’ rides were. We had been warned. Nowhere was safe. We approached the kids’ zone which had become covered in a white fog created by smoke machines.

    I practically ran through the kids’ area looking for them. We headed for the front of the park. I looked through the windows of every restaurant or shop, thinking they might have sought refuge there. My last two guesses of where they might be were the gift shop or the Grand Carousel. From a distance, we saw them at the carousel. My mom informed us that they had been riding the carousel for the last 45 minutes, over, and over.

    We all sat at a table as we watched the horror start to approach from a distance. Ivy was sitting in her stroller and I turned her so she was facing away from a horde of approaching monsters. I fully intended to leave. Ivy couldn’t survive here. She wouldn’t sleep for years after an evening at Fright Fest. I still remember watching Chucky at a much too young age. These monsters were in real life.

    I started talking to Ivy about it to gauge her feelings about being surrounded by monsters. We started discussing staying. I decided, if there was any chance we were going to stay, then the monster situation needed to be met head-on. So I picked up Ivy and walked towards the biggest scariest monster I could see. The reason I chose the biggest and scariest wasn’t to just get to the point. I actually chose the biggest monster because I thought she could see it from a distance and not have to get too close. So I walked towards one of these:

    I showed Ivy and she immediately hugged me, hid her face, and said “No, no, no.” I walked away from the monster. Surprisingly, it was all uphill from there. We decided to take a route we thought would avoid monsters to get some food. We had pizza and then had to go through a path that was completely decked out for Fright Fest. It was like a haunted house built into a creepy trail. Inexplicably, Ivy took a liking to the monsters. I went from avoiding them at all costs to leading Ivy up to each one to say hi.

    We made our way to Tatsu. While waiting in line, Ivy requested a special trip to go say hi to more creepy monsters. So I left the line and Ivy and I went monster hunting.

    We came back to Tatsu in time for me to ride. This was where Ivy got more upset than she had all day. More upset than the Pirate Ship, more upset than the monsters, she was extremely disappointed that she couldn’t ride Tatsu.

    The lesson from this trip ended up being: with great risk comes great reward. The three things Ivy has constantly talked about since our trip have been the Pirate Ship, the monsters, and Tatsu. Months later Tatsu is still the motivation for Ivy to eat all of her meals. She needs to eat all of her food so she can get big and strong to ride Tatsu.

    Ivy ended up falling asleep at 10:00pm. For those following the timeline here, that was in the car 6:00am-12:30pm, lunch at Wendy’s 12:30-1pm, nonstop rides 1:00pm-7:00pm culminating in 10 consecutive rides on the carousel, and hunting monsters 7:00pm-10:00pm. We ended up leaving at 12:30am. That’s a Quackenbush day at Six Flags.

    And with that, our first (of many) Six Flags trips had concluded, and the next day we were on our way home after a Denny’s breakfast, frozen treat in hand.