The day started as a joyous occasion. Baby sitting issues during the week gave me the opportunity to stay home from work. A spur of the moment decision was made as free tickets to Universal Studios dangled in front of my nose. We were going to Universal Studios Hollywood!
We waited for Donna to finish what she needed to do for the day, and by high noon, we were sitting in front of the Dodger Dog stand at Universal City Walk. It was lunch time and before we ventured into the park, we needed to eat something. And if there’s a Dodger Dog within reach, beware… you’ll get bitten if you’re in my way.
By this time we still had about four hours of theme park going time as we stood in line for tickets. Four hours was my guess at how long I’d last standing in lines for rides and shows. Liza, Colby, Donna, Jessica, Jake, Ethan (visiting from Roseville) and I made up the group of fun seekers.
We rushed over for the one o’clock Animal Planet Live show to start our day. The kids loved it and it was a good start for the rest of the day. But as this was prime nap time for Jake, you could see that sitting in the sun waiting for the show to start, was a tough fight for him to stay awake. And this wouldn’t be his only tough fight for the day.
After the show we sent Jessica and Ethan off on their own. That way they wouldn’t be slowed by parents and little kids.
During our wait for Fear Factor Live, we walked over to the Coke Water Zone (or whatever its called). It’s a water area where kids squirt each other, get wet and cool off. When there’s water and kids there are pleadings of getting wet without its consequences. To them, getting wet now was more important than the results of spending the rest of the day in uncomfortably wet, sticky clothes.
I was a kid. I get it. And despite my normal feelings of my kids getting their clothes soaked, whatever they wanted to do was fine. I just had one rule and one rule only. “No running.”
We watched Jake and Colby as they tentatively stepped into the water zone. Eventually they’d venture in and cool off and we’d have to pry them away in order to continue our day. I turned around to go get something to drink. We were in the Coke Zone so what’s more appropriate than an ice cold Coke I thought.
The words, “No running” seemed to be hanging in the air having just left my lips. I turned around for one second and what seemed like a blink of an eye, Jake had turned a corner and slipped. He wasn’t really walking. He wasn’t in the full stride of a run. But he was just getting started with a run and all I saw was a child’s size thirteen shoes give way and forty inches and forty pounds of a five year old boy slap hard against the concrete floor. Face down.
He looked up at me and smiled that embarrassed smile you smile when you fall in public. I figured he’d just get right back up and continue his water play having learned his lesson of no running. His smile prompted me to turn back around to look for a coke when a couple walked by and I overheard the man say with concern, “did you see that?” I’ve been on that end having seen someone fall. By commenting on it it made the situation an incident of concern rather than just a laugh at an innocent trip and fall. I turned back around to see Donna holding Jacob in her arms.
That’s unusual I thought. Jake normally sucks it up. He’d get hit in the eye with a baseball and tear up but suck it up and throw it back. He’ll slip and fall on a hard wood floor as he plays basketball and says ‘ouch’ but gets back up laughing if he’s in the middle of having fun. And he was in the middle of having wet fun which made me believe something like a fall wouldn’t stop him.
I rushed over and the world stopped as the sight of blood seemed to stop my heart. Not just blood from a cut on knee, but blood on the ground, blood on Donna’s shoulder, blood running down Jacob’s nose and blood coming out of his mouth.
I ran for help. Well, help in the sense of more napkins. I found a bunch at the Coke area and ran back. Donna was calm, I was calm, but inside I was fearing the worst.
We rushed him over to the First Aid Station. His lip swelled immediately as he sat on a bed with a nurse who tended to him. His knee was scraped, his nose was still bleeding and his lip was cut up. I felt so bad for him. I felt horrible for him. I wasn’t mad but disappointed that he didn’t listen. But more than anything, I was relieved that it was no more than just a bloody nose, a cut lip, and a scrapped knee.
We stayed in the nice cool comforts of the First Aid station before going on our way. They provided us with two front of the line passes and some free carnival game passes.
Lesson to be learned – if you want front of the line passes have one of your kids wipe out in the Coke Zone and bloody up the place. Just kidding. Its not a pleasant experience to go through. Especially for a paranoid, semi-over protective parents as I am known to be.
The rest of the day went well. Jake loved the Back to the Future ride, the Fear Factor Live show is a show that cannot be missed, and warm funnel cake was a great way to cap the four and a half hours at Universal Studios! By five o’clock, Jacob was asleep in bed for a short nap.
Here are a few pics of the day.
Yes, Dodger Dogs.
I don’t need to be pregnant like my sister to crave one of these!
Passing the Hulk as we make our way to the ticket counter.
Colby and Jake measuring up.
Ethan and Jessica all grown up.
Prime time nap time before Animal Planet Live.
Having fun before:
Jake being tended to by a nurse.
The nose.
And the results of the slip and fall…
A swollen lip.
My poor, baby.
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