Saint Kate and the Return of the Burn

My niece Katie's been in Texas since Sunday. She's such an awesome girl and an amazing help that James told me today we need to look into getting ourselves a teenage girl. I don't know if he realizes they're all full of angst when they live with you full-time -- and since we can't pick one up at Costco, there's no need to clear that up.

Anyway, about Kate: the child is awesome.

The phrase I say the most (and I mean about 16,000 times a day) is "Hush, Bub," or something to that effect. My little boy is rarely quiet and his near-constant chatter is quite stressful on road trips. While driving home on Sunday, things were no different. Bub chattered on and on and on about anything and everything until Kate said, "Hey, let's play Hushpuppies!" (The game is identical to The Quiet Game, only Hushpuppies included a competition with a cool cousin.) I swear, Bub did not say one word or utter even the tiniest sound for a good half-hour...

and that may be classified as some kind of miracle.

So, besides getting that close to sainthood,
Katie has gone geocaching...

...and to the swimming pool...

...where she came up with this
clever combination of flotation devices.

Katie loves to cook, so we've been creative in the kitchen
and spending more time than normal in the grocery store.

That's where Kate truly realized everything is bigger in Texas.

It came to my attention this week that Katie has never been to Six Flags. Though I grew up in Oklahoma, one of my parents hauled us southward to Arlington at least once every summer, so to discover that someone so closely related to me would stare blankly when I said "Pink Thing" was shocking. Katie's been to amusement parks all over the United States, and I just assumed Six Flags was a given. When I called my mom to tell her about Katie's lack of Six Flags experience, even she was incredulous and asked, "Are you sure?"

We decided there was no way we could ignore such a lamentable situation, so we set her up for a season pass. One thing many people don't realize is that the Six Flags chain offers "Out of Market" season passes. They're available to people who don't live in the state where the Six Flags is located. Just show an out-of-state ID, and a season pass can be yours for one penny more than the day rate. Moreover, because Six Flags parks honor one pass at all parks, Kate can take her pass back to Missouri and visit Six Flags over St. Louis for free. It's a deal that can't be beat!

After a quick breakfast, we set out for the park. Katie and I rode almost all the big coasters while Mom took the kids on the little rides. We met up with one another throughout the day to ride rides we'd all enjoy. We spent about six hours in the park, and it wasn't until the very last ride of the day that I realized I'd failed to apply sunscreen yet again. A day or two spent nursing a burn is a small price to pay for making such a sweet girl so happy.