A few days ago I took the kids to Canobie Lake amusement park. It's the closest one to Boston, and while it's not a serious roller coaster park I don't actually like roller coasters (and the kids aren't pushing for them yet). We went on a Wednesday, and going midweek was a good use of a vacation day: the lines are so much shorter.

I've done this a few times before, but this was my first time taking Nora (5y). Last year she was still highly dependent on naps, so we would have had a very short day. I did set expectations with the older two that bringing Nora might mean leaving early, but her stamina was impressive: we were there open (10:30am, though we got there ~10min earlier) to close (7pm). Very glad we brought her: she had so much fun, and her joy was infectious.

I had all three in bright colored broad brimmed hats with a strap under the chin. Normally when going out in the summer they can choose between hats or sunscreen, but for this trip I required the hats specifically because they are so much easier to pick out in a crowd.

Lily (12y) and Anna (10y) had their comm watches (which Verizon did not end up breaking after all), while Nora stayed with one of us (usually me, a few times Lily) the whole time. This sort of day, where you're repeatedly separating ("that ride is boring" / "that line is too long" / "that ride is too scary") and meeting up ("let's do the teacups together!") is a fantastic use case for the watches. Parks renting watches would make a lot of sense, but probably doesn't work because then they'd be encouraging splitting up instead of condoning it (liability issues).

We left the park to get pizza at Romanos for lunch, as in past years. The kids are much more likely to eat this than park food and it's also much cheaper ($20 with tip for the four of us). It takes a bit more time out of the day, but when you order ahead it's actually pretty close vs waiting at the park (line + prep). And a mid-day break to do something non-stimulating in an air conditioned room was great!

Nora was very thrill-seeking, similar to Lily at the same age. There was only one ride Lily wanted to go on that Nora declined. Several intense rides that Nora really wanted to go on were 48"+ and she's still 44", but she was very excited to be able to go on some 42"+ rides solo. One she did fully by herself, including the waiting in line, which she was very proud of.

Normally Lily wants to be the caretaker big sister for Nora, pushing me for more responsibility and being excited to show Nora everything. At the park, however, Lily wanted to do more things by herself, especially when we first got there, and wasn't allowed on the 48" max little kids rides (they post 48" to keep off the big kids, but all or almost all have a 6" grace window, which Anna just squeaks under). This freed up Nora for Anna, who really enjoyed getting to show Nora all her favorite rides.

Overall, it was a busy day. Here's Nora's list:

Carousel
Teacups
Wave blaster
Flower power
Over the rainbow
Skater
Mini bumper cars
Caterpillar
Mini bumper cars
Jungle bounce
Lunch at Romanos
Castaway Island water park: lazy river, messed around a bit
Kiddie canoes
Rowdy roosters
Wipeout
Haunted mine
Carousel
Carousel
Mini cars
Teacups
Obnoxious tiny boats
Mini jeeps
Mini tanks
Boston harbor patrol
Boston harbor patrol
Train
Boston harbor patrol
Watched Lily on the Boston tea party
Canobie 500
Rowdy roosters
Mini bumper cars

The way the water park fits into the rest of Canobie Lake is pretty awkward. It's mostly a dry park, with a good day's worth of options especially for younger kids. The wet portion is a set of waterslides, a lazy river, a toddler pool, and a huge play structure that sprays water everywhere. The kids like the lazy river, would love the water slide if it didn't have such a huge line (we went on a very hot day), have all outgrown the toddler pool, and mostly find the play structure overstimulating and unpleasant (as do I). We took some time at the water section after lunch; I'm not convinced it was worth the hassle of changing clothes, but Anna disagrees.

The haunted mine ride worked out strangely. I thought it might be too intense for Nora, but she assured us she was ready. Lily told her it was fine to hold hands if she needed support. Over the course of the ride, Lily got more and more freaked out while Nora remained happy and interested. By the end, Lily was shrieking and asking Nora for hugs to feel better. I think it's possible it was not a good fit for Lily, but she might have just enjoyed being scared? I don't plan to bring it up until it's next decision-relevant, in case it prompts bad dreams.

Of the 20 distinct rides, 13 were circular (most motion in a small space), 6 were some other kind of tracked movement (motion in a slightly larger space), and 1 (bumper cars) was free movement. Though this isn't a perfect breakdown, since Rowdy Roosters (circular) and the Canobie 500 (other track) did allow a little free movement perpendicular to the direction of travel.

I asked the kids if they had any thoughts to add:

• Nora said to ride the Kiddie Canoes. I asked if this was her favorite, and she said no, just one she happened to think of.

• Anna said she was glad she went on Wipeout, but even though Nora loved it she wouldn't generally recommend it for little kids. She told me that when she was six she went on it once and didn't want to go on it again for years. For younger kids she recommends the rides where you "sit on little things and they go around in a slow circle and a lot of the times you can ring bells or do other things while you're on the ride". She was glad we brought water bottles. She was also glad we brought swim suits, and enjoyed the water stuff. She warned that the rain fortress was a little intense: "water coming from literally everywhere; wear goggles!" She really liked the reentry hand stamps, and the fried dough ("a little bit expensive, but very powdered sugary").

• Lily: "Save rides with the longest lines for the end of the day, or when lots of people are at the water park. Ride Ice Jet, Zero Gravity, Turkish Twist, Psychodrome. Bring water bottles. A hat with a strap was very helpful for identification: I could easily spot Anna and Nora from a distance because no one else had hats like that."

Admission was $184.38 with fees, because I bought three $45 "Good Any Day" tickets in the December sale (saving $10/ticket) and then bought Nora's $43 day-specific "Under 48in" day-of. Driving from Somerville was ~$20 in gas and depreciation for 63mi. Overall monetary costs of $56/person counting lunch. The largest cost isn't monetary, however, but the opportunity cost of taking a day off work (now that I'm working on something I think is important). Since my deal with myself is that I take the same amount of time off I did when I was earning to give, though, it's more about the marginal day off, and I'm not sure what that would have been. Overall, very glad we went, and likely to go again next year!