Six Flags

Mom, dad and Auntie D took Xander to Six Flags New England this past weekend. The park would only be open for a couple more weeks, and mom and dad (mainly dad) wanted to give Xander his first amusement park experience.

Upon arriving in scenic Agawam, Mass., the group headed over to the tram. We ended up on the sky-blue painted Skittles tram. Xander, who likes trains and most other moving vehicles, was a big fan of the tram. But it is a short ride - so short that the group wondered aloud why they had bothered taking it (note: this didn't stop them from taking it on the way back).

Once inside, the group made off for Kidzopolis. The first stop was ZoomJets - the little planes in a circle that go up and down. Xander was seemingly unimpressed. He was also seemingly unimpressed on Krazy Kars (that one actually did suck, even for a kids ride) and Zinger Swings. It wasn't until the western-themed ferris wheel, which was called Wagon Wheels or something like that, that smiles surfaced.

This shouldn't have come as a surprise. One of the effects of Xander observing everything around him is that he sort of detaches when he has an opportunity to just look around. This comes into play mainly on the swings. Knowing that he's not responsible for his own movement, he takes the time to look around at cars, other kids or whatever is in the area. One often doesn't know that Xander is enjoying himself until the person pushing him lets Xan come to a gentle stop, only to find Xander kicking that he wants to swing some more.

Back to Wagon Wheels, when Xan got to the top - which took awhile since each rider had to be loaded on one at a time - he broke out in smiles, and it was a smile-fest from there on out. He enjoyed the pirate-themed playground, and the Route 66 car driving course with mom, and the Ship's Ahoy! kiddie dragon-boat ride. Once he figured out where everything and everyone was, he had a much better time.

But his favorite part of all? Watching the big roller coasters. Dad and AD went on the Bizarro Superman and Mind Eraser coasters, and during each mom and Xan hung out near the exit and watched the coasters zoom by overhead. Each time, Xan would screech with delight and point at the coasters. He's still a long ways away from being tall enough to ride them himself, but he will likely be ready long before that.

When you add up the price of admission, plus food and games, amusement parks are rarely cheap, but giving Xander his first experience at one proved worth the price of admission and then some.