I’m not sure I remember my first date though I should probably be able to since I think I had three before I turned 20.  I do remember my first date with Jenn and I can tell you, with a degree of certainty, that my knuckles were as white as Ryan’s are in this picture.  A few weeks ago a bunch of friends met at a local amusement park and had a blast watching Ellie Rossi and Ryan together blasting through the rides. 

Though our little man was fresh off his trip to Disney, there’s a fairly significant difference between the relative safety of The Mouse and ghetto amusement parks in Upstate New York.  For starters, Disney would never allow a child to ride alone and Disney employees actually bolt their riders to their seats in sort of the style of a NASCAR pit crew.  In Upstate New York, well we do things differently.  Here, we allow our children to be “tied” with a used belt in six inches of water with navigation bells carefully placed directly inside our children’s ear canals.  And for my money, we’ve got it right.

As you can see, Ryan wasn’t too sure about this ride but was quickly comforted by the infectious giggles from his back seat companion.  As I typed that last line I realized that in twelve years I’d better not be writing a similar one. Hopefully there will be many more rides this Summer and many more lessons he can learn from his elder lady friends.