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ment. Some people get a few good books and hunker down in an air conditioned room, and some go out jogging because… well… I don't know why anyone would be so dumb. It is unlikely that heat stroke is on their bucket list, but any other answer eludes me.
• When the temperature cooled into the high 90's, I took my kids to a water park. I could be content to soak in the shallows of a wave pool or float around on a tube, slowing crisping myself, but it was too hot for lying in the sun. I would have to immerse my body in water to stay cool. Besides, at this particular water park, there were no wave pools or tube rivers. Simply a lot of lukewarm water with a lot of slides, towers, ropes and pulleys meant to test your affinity for extreme sports.
• My kids loved this park. Even my daughter, who shares my unfortunate fear of heights, climbed a 25-foot wooden ladder and slid down a 5 foot slide into thin air. I am ashamed to say that my only thought was one of relief that I wouldn't have to climb that tower to get her back down.
• My 10-year old, on the other hand, doesn't know what fear is until it is too late. I think a little fear is healthy. It's what keeps most of us alive. The only thing that has kept my boy alive so far is threat of video game deprivation.
• "There will be no video games this weekend if you kill yourself."
• He has no fear and he has no shame. I bought him a new swimming suit the day before, but they were a little loose. I was the only one bothered by the fact that his little white behind kept peeking out of them. I pretended I didn't know him.
• My main haunts were the "banana slide" - which was a long, slow, wedgie-proof slide - and a lawn chair in the shade. This worked out well because these were the places my 10-year old would not be. At least I knew if he was riding a short, fast, chute-slide, his pants would stay up.
• My 15-year old son had the nerve to tell my daughter, "Mom, wouldn't be caught dead on the Tarzan ropes…" Which is why I was forced to swing on a 30-foot rope, drop into an 8-foot watery abyss, and receive the full benefit of an exhilarating ride, which, as far as I could tell, was a sinus cavity full of water. If there were (Continued on page 8)
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