Hey parents, you know the drill. It is the end of the school year. Time for the field trips. How many of your kids are going to spend a day at an amusement park with their classmates?

Last Monday my son Max’s van picked him up as usual and took him to school. The kids were there long enough to check in and then the whole school went off to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire. My wife and I met them at the park; hooray for me, we are chaperones today. I’ll get to ride on some rides!

It started out with a nice surprise. Because all these kids have disabilities they got special wrist bands that allowed them to jump the lines. The purpose of this is to help these kids who have zero tolerance when it comes to being patient. With the bands they go in the exit, get a choice of seats and then are allowed to ride twice before moving on to the next ride.

There are 7 kids in Max’s class; my wife and I took him and his buddy Bobby with us, the rest went with the two teachers. As we walked through the park they set their sights on a ride called “The Corkscrew”. It is one of those new wave roller coasters. It is not very long but it is very fast; and you can guess by its name that one section spirals like a corkscrew so there are moments when you are whipped upside down and side to side. I haven’t had the urge to try this one yet.

The boys, not understanding the wrist bands, got in line first. They moved up the ramp and inside the waiting area too quickly for us to stop them. Are you kidding Max was too excited; this was the first time he was tall enough to go on this ride. Once inside we lost track of them and we had to wait for what seemed like a half an hour (it was probably only ten minutes) before they were on the car and finished the ride. Now we were able to explain the use of the bands and sent them through the exit for their second ride. When they came out they were in heaven; best ride they had ever been on! (Actually it was only the first today.)

This time Max and Bobby had a difference of opinion on which would be the next ride. Max went in one direction and his friend disappeared. We were frantic for several minutes before we found him in line for a ride which was around the corner and down the block. We had to speak to him severely because he just couldn’t understand the problem; so he disappeared, so what? And we told him “so what”. He was our responsibility and if he couldn’t stick with us he would have to go back with the rest of the class.

Once that was out of the way they settled on their next ride. You’ll notice a pattern during the day; even though they are only 8 years old there would be no kiddie rides for them, they wanted the biggest and scariest ones. “The Boston Tea Party” was next. It was based on “The Log Flume” which we got later. It was a long log that sat at least 10 people and worked like a roller coaster. It travels up a high ramp before circling around and dropping down a very steep chute into a “river” of water. Everyone got soaked, the riders and even the spectators. When the boys came out they were sopping wet and because we didn’t have towels they had to air dry.

They continued to ride the crazy rides and because I was a chaperone I had to watch and make sure they were okay. This meant no riding! I was itching to get on the rides and feeling frustrated just walking around the park. The worst part of it was when they chose to ride “The Yankee Cannonball”. This is one of those large old wooden rollercoasters and it is fun. No it doesn’t have any track that goes upside down but it is at least 4 times longer than “The Corkscrew” and it has several peaks and valleys. It is enough to give you a lot of jolts…and it is my favorite ride in the park. I got to watch them ride it twice!

At one thirty Bobby and his class go back to school but Max stayed with us. This was what I was waiting for; Max won’t ride by himself he has to drag his dear old dad along with him. (Read BIG smile on my face!) What does he want to ride first? It is his dad’s favorite “The Yankee Cannonball”. It was more bone jarring than I had remembered. I found that I had to brace myself slightly off the seat as we shot down into the valleys, otherwise I would get tossed around like a rag doll. And my boy was sitting along beside me as I rode!

When it was over the attendant leaned over and asked Max if he wanted to continue. Can you guess the answer? After the second time I felt like I had just gotten off one of those astronaut centrifuges. I had to check to make sure my hair wasn’t standing on end. Shucks, it wasn’t…where’s the next ride.

Max chose “The Log Flume”. This is a smaller version of “The Boston Tea Party”; our “log” has 2 seats which will take 4 people but it was just the 2 of us today. With Max up in front and me behind him in the first seat we floated down a river and went up and down some small hills. It gave us the impression we were on a nice relaxing kiddie ride but watch out! It had a ramp just like the other one but in this case at the top there was a photographer taking pictures. When we reached him I had a change of heart, “I want to get off!” He smiled, “too late” he said as we sailed off the edge. It was a blast and I had had no intention of getting off!

When it was finally time to go home we hopped on the Ferris Wheel which was next to the exit. As we got to the top Max turned to me and told me a secret, he is afraid of heights. This was a surprise, I hadn’t realized any of this stuff bothered him. He bit his nails while we went around and around. I tried taking his mind off it by pointing at the tops of the trees which were below us. “Oh wait I can see our car in the parking lot, see that tiny thing over there?”

In the end nothing I said calmed him…I can’t understand why. When we got off he was more than ready to say goodbye to the park. But one thing we have found is that all of this excitement tends to rev him up and it is several hours before he calms down enough to stop ricocheting off the walls. He did go to sleep early that night which was great for us since my wife and I were exhausted.

And oh by the way, I bet you thought I was talking about Max or Bobby when I named this post “The Daredevil”. Nope, it was about this 53 year old guy with multiple sclerosis who really feels like he is 8 years old again when he is with his son.