Mother Nature decided to skip Spring this year and went straight to Summer with a 2-day 90-degree plus weekend. Records were broken for the hottest April in recorded history, and for the quickest that the Shepard family has ever made it to Coney Island for the year.Mommy Owl Lisa couldn't join us due to the expected arrival of her new baby, Raising Mom, but that didn't stop daddy and the girls from digging out their summer attire and jumping in the minivan. By 11 am we were parking the fun-mobile right in front of Nathan's Famous.
First on the agenda was a brief visit to the beach playground. But the call of the surf was too hard to resist and the girls made a bee-line to the frigid water. Splashing, screaming, digging, and running occupied the next hour along with some snacking and some resting. Then... a walk along the sand to find sea shells. By the way, the beach at Coney Island has more glass in it than an entire skyscraper.
All the fresh air and exercise made us hungry, so off to Nathans. But by then most of Brooklyn was also at Coney Island and the lines were a mile long. The girls were running on empty, so I made the executive decision to forsake Nathans this trip and head to the creepy food stand next door. The cotton candy and lollipop displays distracted the girls from their nutritious hot dog and french fry lunch. So, after a visit to the $5 photo booth, we headed off to the Wonder Wheel.Now Marni has never been on the Wonder Wheel. But Stella and I have. Without Lisa around to hang out with Marni on the ground, it had to be all of us or none of us. Marni insisted she was a brave girl now. So we headed to the wheel ($18 dollars lighter).
Indeed Marni was right. She was a brave girl and giggled and screamed all the way through the ride (although I was scared shitless for them). From our vantage point high above the beach, we spied a few more rides that the girls wanted to explore.
$25 dollars later we took our 10-ride ticket to the carousel, spinning dragon ride, and choo-choo train ride. The choo-choo train ride was for kids only and Marni expanded on her newly found courage by riding it with sister Stella. Really quite a breakthrough. With our ticket expended, we headed off for some more sea shell hunting and then... the scariest attraction of the day. The public rest rooms.
By now it was past three and I felt I was pushing my luck (and feeling a little sunburn on my neck). The ice cream store was the last stop. Rainbow for Stella. Chocolate and vanilla with "sparkles" for Marni (I will get them to start saying "Jimmies" if it's the last thing I do). Half way through the ice cream the girls were feeling a chill, so we cut it short and headed to the car (their clothes were already a total loss though).
We happily gave up our prime parking space and headed home (after a stop at Lowes to pick up some flowers). The girls were bathed, fed (Italian) and asleep in their beds by 7:30. Now it's my chance to clean up the apartment after a very successful day of fun.
