Lagoon Surprise

We decided to get season passes to Lagoon passes again this summer.  The kids were excited to and use them during the first week that school was out.  We made plans to go to Lagoon-A-Beach as soon as Arden got out of gymnastics on Wednesday morning.  Arden seemed a little overly concerned with exactly how long it would take us to get from the gym to Lagoon, but I didn't think much of it until later.

We arrived at Lagoon and went and got our season pass pictures taken.  As we walked from there over to the main gate, Arden was walking behind me and I suddenly heard her talking to someone that didn't sound like Dax or Cora.  I turned around to see who it was, and lo and behold, it's Brady. Brady, the boy Arden "likes."  And he "likes" her too.  You know, they 5th-grade "like-like" each other.  (Actually, I wouldn't know because no one in fifth grade "like-liked" me...I was a solid six inches taller than every single boy...not to mention kind of awkward and funny looking.  But I digress).

Huh.

What a co-ink-ee-dink meeting Brady here.  "Well, hey there, Brady," I said, looking around for his mom.

No mom in sight.  Interesting.  Now he is following us into the park.

Huh.

He looks up at me and says, "I have to meet my mom at the pickup at 2:30."

Huh. Wait. What?

ARRRR-DEN?????  What exactly is going on here?

So....turns out that she and Brady and been planning on his meeting up with us at Lagoon.  Brady had assumed I was in on this plan.  Not so much.  When questioned later about why this oh-so-crucial bit of information about our Lagoon visit had been withheld from me, she answered, "Because I didn't think you would let me."  Well, you have a point there.  I don't know that I would have.

But still.

Don't get me wrong.  I like Brady.  I have known Brady since he and Arden were in first grade together.  When I was the reading helper for their second grade class, he was already quite a social and friendly little guy.  He would quickly do the reading assignment because he is a smart kid, and then he would want to tell me all about a movie he had seen or what he did the day before or just whatever was on his mind.  Not very many second graders wanted to sit in the hall and shoot the breeze with someone else's mom.  He is a super nice kid.  How-ev-er, despite the fact that I like Brady, I REALLY DON'T like the fact that I appear to suddenly be the chaperone of Arden's first date.

At eleven years old.

It was actually pretty hilarious watching them interact.  We got those big inflatable tubes and headed for the lazy river.  "Arden, grab my tube!" said Brady as he floated away.  Arden politely declined to touch his tube or let him touch hers.  Later, Brady bought a bunch of french fries for a snack and tried to share them with Arden.  Arden politely declined to partake of his french fries.  Dax, on the other hand, was all over those fries.  He was loving having another dude around.  Especially one that buys french fries and offers to share them.  He followed Brady around like a little puppy dog, which I thought was hilarious.

Brady was able to convince Arden (and Daxton, of course) to go down the "speed slides," which I was pretty surprised about.  She was too scared to go on them last year.  But so was Dax.  I guess they were both showing off for Brady a little bit.  We mostly rode the Outrigger slide a whole bunch of times now that we had convinced Cora that it was fun.

Before too long, Brady had to go meet his mom.  Before he left, I made them all pose for a picture:

(Side note:  how cool/disturbing are Dax's new goggles?)

After we got home, Arden's ipod (which was used for the secret arranging of the Lagoon rendezvous) was promptly confiscated.  We already had an agreement in place that I could read her messages, but I hadn't done it often enough apparently.  She hasn't been allowed to use it in the last few weeks, but maybe I'll give it back to her someday.  

Maybe not.

I'm soooo not ready for this crap!