Jonesie Bug & Freddie Bear: a(nother) day at Dollywood

Because I am DETERMINED to get my money's worth out of our season's passes to Dollywood and also because I am EQUALLY determined to be sure Jones is comfortable enough in amusement parks to thoroughly enjoy Disney World in September, I asked my friend Leslie if she wanted to go to our favorite place in Pigeon Forge. It was a last minute idea, but even though I warned her, "FULL DISCLOSURE: My boys are going," she was all in.

Off we went to the place my boys call "the Big, Giant Fair."

There were a couple of firsts on the trip - the boys got to ride the train for the first time (the actual train, that is. It's always either been full or not running, so we've had to convince them that the tram to our car was the "parking lot train," which suited them just fine). Jones held his hand over one ear the entire time and pressed his other ear to my chest, but he wasn't whiny or anything. In fact, when we left, he said the train was his favorite part of the day.

Alrighty, Son.

The other first was the first time Jones didn't get to ride "Pow Pow Bullseye" on the carousel. He missed getting it by an nnnth of a second to a kid whose mom had to FORCE him to ride it. I SO wanted to say, "Excuse me. Since YOUR son doesn't care, and MY son DOES care, would you PLEASE trade with us?" but I also wanted Jones to learn that you can't always get what you want, and so I kept my mouth shut, and for the most part, Jones did, too. I could tell a fit was coming on from the disappointment, but he held it back and rode some random other horse, and I was so proud of his control and completely amazed at how much my heart broke, knowing what Pow Pow Bullseye means to him.

Isn't that silly? I mean, that little disappointment made my heart hurt for him.

Anyway, I promised we'd try again. He didn't understand, though, why I didn't just walk right over to Pow Pow Bullseye and get on him when the ride was over. I tried to explain that we had to walk around and stand in line again, but by then, it was too late.

Meltdown mode.

It didn't last long before he got it together, but it was long enough for me to want to choke both him AND the mom who'd unwittingly picked my child's beloved pony to force her indecisive son on.

UGH.

There went his chance at trying again for Pow Pow Bullseye.

Daggonit, Jones. ENOUGH WITH THE FITS. I just don't think he's connecting the cause and effect between the fits and the foregone experience (i.e., another ride on Pow Pow Bullseye).

Anyway.

If he does this at Disney, you guys ...

Just pray he doesn't. I mean, like, FOR REAL.

Oh, something funny from Freddie, who could care less WHAT he rides, so long as he gets to drive. He turned to the horse behind him and said, "Are you following me?" The boys say it to each other all of the time. They must've seen it on a cartoon, but still. His timing and delivery was pretty hilarious for a three year old, if I do say so myself.

From there, we made our way - as we always do - to the County Fair. The boys rode the usual suspects. The pigs. The ducks. The bumblebees. The elephants. The rollercoaster is now a greenspace - much to Freddie's chagrin and Jones's relief. We skipped the Scrambler, because it had too long a line (and, also, I hate it), and then we got, finally, to the "Oso cars."

These, of course, were Freddie's favorite part of the day. Remember what I said about him having to drive?

Almost before we were out of the parking lot, the boys were sound asleep, leaving Leslie and I to have 90 minutes of blessedly uninterrupted conversation, some of which centered around when we can spent yet ANOTHER day at Dollywood.