I recently read a passage from a book titled The Sinbad Voyage. This book details a 6000-mile voyage from Oman to China in a replica of an ancient Arab ship.
The passage that sparked this thought was:
“The Arabs took to the sea with that same philosophy of devotion which helped them cross the great deserts. They set out trusting in the destiny which Allah would provide them, and both camel caravaneer and Arab shipmaster used the same stars to guide them on their courses, believing that God had placed the stars there for that very purpose. [In a previous voyage across the sea], I had only to glance upwards to appreciate the heritage of Arabe seafaring: of the major navigation stars used by sailors, most bore Arabic names because it was Arab savants who had developed the art of astronavigation (p. 16).
“The sea road was the great achievement of early Arab navigation. It was nothing less than the 6000-mile voyage by way of Ceylon and South-east Asia to the fabled ports of China (p18).” (emphasis added)
So these Arab shipmasters navigated the oceans of their world. Exploring, adventuring, expanding the horizons of what they and the people around them thought were possible. Both in the deserts and the oceans. This image can help visualize this ocean exploration:
From other passages I read that even at its most consistent and well-established, roughly 1 in 10 trips to China never returned.
Can you imagine setting out into the ocean knowing there was a good chance you would never return?
Why did they do this?
Some people just have an adventurous death wish, hop on a raft, and push off into the ocean. This is true.
Others have a view of what is possible and go for it. But there is still an immense amount of belief, trust, and faith in boarding a large ship and setting off on what is known to be an amazingly treacherous and dangerous journey. Why do it?
The thought that occurred to me as I read that passage about the ancient Arab explorers was this: it was faith that allowed these Arab shipmasters to do amazing things. Many truly believed that Allah was watching over them and would safely guide them, by destiny, or by whatever else you want to call it, to their destination.
Why did they believe it?
Faith.
Did some die? Yes. Was their faith misguided? Who knows. But that doesn’t take away the fantastic thing they did because they had faith.
People with faith accomplish amazing things.
What role has faith played in the discovery of the world? Without faith in something greater, people wouldn’t do fantastic things. Or they would do them less often.
What does the role of faith play in our everyday lives?
Why did your body move when you told it to get out of bed this morning? Do you even realize you told your body to get out of bed this morning? Why did you believe your body would move when you told it to this morning?
The answer is faith.
You can give all sorts of other answers if you’d like. But ultimately you had faith that if you told your legs to swing over the side of your bed and to walk, they would do it. You had to have faith that it was possible. Every living act is done with faith.
The next time you venture out to do something difficult or scary ask yourself: do I have faith that I can accomplish this thing? If you have faith, you can do anything. And if you have faith and fail, you learn something.
Ivy just had her fourth Six Flags trip and Sage her third. If we’re keeping score, that’s four trips in four years (of age) for Ivy and three trips in two years for Sage. We’re on track.
To some people Six Flags is just a theme park. To a Quackenbush Six Flags is ground zero for formative experiences. Ground zero is an adequate analogy. Only the strong survive these trips.
One interesting dynamic that developed this trip was Sage voicing her opinion. Last time we went to Six Flags, Sage was still young enough that she just went with the flow and/or whatever Ivy wanted to do. This was the first trip where I had to balance the demands of a toddler and a four-year-old preteen. But we’ll get to that.
If you read 2023’s trip report you know how early we usually leave for these trips. This time we drove straight to the beach on Friday and went to the park early on Saturday.
Beth’s sister Eve came to Arizona from Utah and joined us on the trip to California. Her coming along was a lot of help. For once Beth and I weren’t outnumbered.
Beth and Eve didn’t want to go to the beach, so they dropped us off on Friday and went and did I don’t know what with Wren.
Sage is now at the age where she has a pure love and infatuation with the beach, particularly with sand. She ate a borderline unsafe amount of sand.
The girls both came out of their shells on this beach trip. They even went in the water! Ivy was fully submerged, not completely by choice. She and Sage were playing on the edge of the water, and I guess she fell in. She was really upset until I told her how awesome she was and then she brightened up.
We played a lot of Spikeball and swam in the ocean. Good beach trip.
That night baby Wren and baby Fulton got to meet for the first time at our favorite California trip Mexican restaurant, Don Cucos.
But the next day was Six Flags!
One of the parts of these California trips that is most memorable to Ivy is the hotel breakfast. Ivy LOVES the hotel breakfast. If you ask her about it, she’ll tell you they have great juice (we don’t drink juice at home).
We had breakfast and since we were already in town and not driving straight from Arizona to Six Flags, we were able to get to the gates ahead of the 10:30am opening. It was the first time we’d ever used the “VIP entrance” feature of our tickets. We got through the gates and got to line up at a rope ahead of general admission. We were headed towards rides at 10:22am. This gave us a big head start on any crowds. We were able to ride 10 rides in our first 30 minutes inside the park.
The plan was to go ~3 adult rides and then ~3 kid rides but since there were no lines, we got carried away with the power.
In the meantime, the kids got to meet Flash and see the Batmobile.
Sage was skeptical of Flash
Ivy hit a milestone since our last trip. She was now 42” in height, opening up a bunch of new rides for her. The first new ride Ivy got to try is called Teen Titans Turbo Spin.
I was a little nervous about this first of 42” rides. Turbo Spin is a carnival style ride where you stand against a wall and spin at a high speed. Ivy loved it.
We were very disappointed that a ride called Battle for Metropolis was closed. That was another that Ivy would have been able to ride. It’s one of those rides where you slowly travel around in a cart with a fake laser zapper shooting bad guys.
There was another ride we had never before worked into the rotation. It was called Jet Stream, and it had no height requirement. It was a water ride that the entire family got to ride. Ivy, Sage, and all the little ones enjoyed it.
The final new ride that was an addition for Ivy was Roaring Rapids:
This was by far the longest line we waited in. It was so long Ivy almost boycotted. When we were very near to getting on the ride, she started loudly casting her vote for leaving.
While Ivy waited in line at Roaring Rapids, the other young kids – Sage, her cousin Kaia, and her cousin Fulton – all went to Bugs Bunny World.
We finally got on Roaring Rapids. Ivy’s excitement quickly turned into a freak out when the first splash hit her. Roaring Rapids can have that effect on you. She freaked out for most of it and continued to freak out as we got off. She was mad that she was wet. I reminded her how hot it was outside and pointed to some people sitting in the shade fanning each other. I asked her if she thought she was more comfortable and cool and wet than those people. Her mood quickly turned as she was excited to admit she felt cool and wet.
Finally we got to Bugs Bunny World. I took Ivy on a couple of her favorites – the ball house, the School Bus, and Taz’s Trucking Co – before we found Sage and her cousin Kaia.
We spent a couple hours riding everything the girls wanted to ride. As I mentioned, with Sage developing a strong opinion on what ride she wanted, there was a lot of deal-making and compromising. Kaia was only with us a couple rides so after that future ride decisions became a sister battle.
Six Flags is where you grow. When it was just Ivy, Sage, and I, we went and rode a favorite, just for the novelty of it: the Tweedy Bird Cages (See Ivy’s trip in 2023 for picture proof of Ivy getting Grandpa into a bird cage). I sent Ivy and Sage in to ride together. At first they were going to ride in separate cages. But as they approached and the fear set in, they joined their courage together and rode in one cage. They both came off so happy.
Next to the bird cages was a ride called Road Runner Express. We hadn’t tried that one before. I knew it was a kid roller coaster, potentially on the “extreme” side (for Ivy and Sage). We went up to the nonexistent line. This was a ride I would have to sit with Sage on, leaving Ivy alone. The teenage ride operator seemed sympathetic to this issue so he said if the three of us could fit in one cart, we could ride together. I got Sage in, I climbed in, but when I tried to get Ivy to join us, she refused. She didn’t want to ride. The ride operator said she couldn’t stand in the ride area, so she had to leave the platform, go through the gate, and go down the stairs to watch. I watched anxiously as Ivy left the gate. My heart broke. She was resigned. She was trying not to seem upset, but she was disappointed.
Is this how it is being a parent?
Seeing the subtle growth, and sadness, and disappointment and having to watch and feeling your heart break for your sweet daughter?
I dread more of these moments as my kids grow. I guess it’s life.
Sage and I rode the ride. Sage was terrified, but she did it. We got off and found Ivy sitting on the bench. She looked so big. I hardly recognized her, sitting by herself, I assume thinking about how Sage and I just rode the roller coaster and she didn’t. I asked if she wanted to ride the ride and she said no. We moved on.
We went to the merry go round.
Next to the merry go round was a ride called Speedy Gonzales Hot Rod Racers:
Ivy enjoyed this ride last time we were at Six Flags, despite it being on the extreme side for her.
This would be another ride that I HAD to ride with Sage, but Ivy was tall enough to ride alone. I explained this to Ivy as best as I could. It would be another situation like the last roller coaster that Ivy didn’t want to ride alone. As Sage and I got in our seats, Ivy started to panic. She didn’t want to be alone. I calmly explained to her that I had to be with Sage because she was too little but that Ivy was my big girl and she could ride behind us, but she’d have to be alone.
I thought she was going to leave again.
I was prepared to collapse into a puddle of sad dad, watching my daughter be disappointed yet again.
But then I saw a shift in Ivy’s eyes. From my perspective, I think she remembered what just happened at that last ride, and she didn’t want it to happen again. “Defiantly” seems like a dramatic word to describe how she approached her roller coaster cart, but I can’t find a more adequate word. She got into her seat and got buckled in. I looked behind us to watch her.
I was proud.
Ivy rode that roller coaster by herself. When it stopped, the ride operator gave the group an option to go a second time. I looked back at Ivy. She was grinning from ear to ear yelling, “Again! Again!”
After our second time around, we got off the ride and Ivy wanted to ride again. Sage wanted to go back to the merry go round. I told Ivy we could come back to ride again after the merry go round. The merry go round was right by Speedy Gonzales. We got in line for the merry go round and Ivy looked longingly over at Speedy Gonzales.
Ivy looked at Speedy Gonzales, and back at me, and back at Speedy Gonzales.
Then she did something completely unexpected. Ivy proposed that she go to Speedy Gonzales while Sage and I rode the merry go round. I told her that would be okay. I watched as she walked towards Speedy Gonzales. At the ramp up, I saw her confidence waver. She stopped. She never looked back at me, but she stopped. Then she ran up the ramp. I watched her stand in line and wait for her turn.
It may seem like a small thing to some. But Ivy is very tentative, very cautious, she usually won’t go out of our sight. There she was, waiting in line to ride a roller coaster by herself.
This made me think about something. Bad things happen. Ivy not riding that first roller coaster while Sage and I went made me so sad to watch. If I could have changed it, I probably would have. If I could have inserted the courage into Ivy’s little soul by force of will, I don’t think I could have resisted. But then Ivy wouldn’t have learned and grew. She grew in that moment of disappointment.
God sees bad things happen and He doesn’t change it. If He did, we couldn’t grow. If He changed things, He would be defeating the purpose of us coming to earth. You go to Six Flags to be brave, to be disappointed, and to scream your heart out: The same reason we came to earth.
If I changed what happened at that first roller coaster then Ivy wouldn’t have learned something important about herself, about being brave, about what she is capable of.
Anyways, back to Six Flags. We finished the night, shutting the park down at 9:00pm, on Crazanity. My dad potentially got hit by a bat and we talked to security and medical staff to make sure all was well. No big deal.
I think the next day was Father’s Day.
We had lunch at a pier before heading back to Arizona while my family went to the beach.
No Coincidences 