Yesterday was a very special day for our little keepers. The corporation our JM works for gives their employees one day a year at the 6 FLAGS just outside St. Louis, Mo. The company pays for everything from parking to tickets to lunch and even drinks for the day. JM and keepers have attended this event before but always with family members along to enjoy the free day. This year, JM and keepers decided to not take anyone with us and allow the day to be one where little keepers could have a taste of what it is like to have a happy childhood. To be honest, big keepers were amazed at how much fun our little alters were capable of having and how completely uninhibited they were with no one standing there criticizing them for everything they do or say. You see, our JM has never (in our 38 years together) been embarrassed to be with any keeper–big or little. He always walks with pride whether it is a big or a little holding his hand. So, this day turned out to be one of the most special our little keepers ever experienced.

The above picture was taken as we were entering the park. The guy is, of course, our John Michael and the keeper is Andi (one of our alters who is more outgoing than the rest of us). Please notice the red baseball cap on Andi’s head. The hat belongs to our 7 year old alter, Terrence. Andi wore it to keep the sun off of our head and out of our eyes. Unfortunately, on the very first ride (a roller coaster) the baseball cap flew off and was forever lost in the oblivion of the foliage that surrounded that roller coaster.

The above picture here was taken on the Log Flume. Actually, this picture was taken during our second ride on the flume. The picture is of Terrence enjoying himself more than he ever has before. Throughout the ride, he was squealing and laughing like never before. In fact, when we got to the end of the ride, the young man (who helped us out of the log) leaned over and asked ARE YOU REALLY HAVING SUCH A GRAND TIME? Terrence looked the guy in the eye and said OH, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Our JM does not usually purchase professional picture because they are soooooooooo expensive but when he saw Terrence’s face here-he just had to have the picture and bought it.

Our little tiny alters could have sat for hours and watched the man in the above picture make bubbles like this one. The man was a pure artist when it came to bubble making. He was also very patient with our John Michael trying to get pictures of each bubble while our very little alters sat in awe of the magical bubbles floating in mid air.

Patrick and Terrence (Twin brothers in our system. Alters that are 7 years old) thought it was the neatest thing to get to see some of their favorite super heroes posed and ready for picture taking. They had JM get busy photographing the super heroes as they stood ready to be captured on film. Actually, some of our girl alters were also quite excited to have their very own photograph of Wonder Woman, as well.

The above picture is of Patrick in the stockade. I have no idea why he wanted this picture taken–except that big keepers have had many times when we felt the desire to string Patrick up for his antics. Anyway, this is Patrick in the stockade.

Our John Michael took this picture of keepers the moment after our cap flew off while we were riding the Mine Train. The neat thing about this picture is the perfectly blue sky that was with us all day long as well as temperatures in the low 80’s.

At some point, our JM took the little keepers into a shop to look around. Our little girl keepers found a wonderful pink Super girl cape. Somehow, they lost out to the boys who wound up purchasing the above Superman cape. Once outside, all the littles wanted to put the cape on. They wore it with pride the rest of the day. Besides, our 9-13 year old girl keepers eventually got to purchase a hat to replace the baseball cap that flew off. The hat they bought is so gawdy and tasteless that it deserves a blog all its own which will be written someday in the future along with picture of said hat.

But, the most important thing is that our little keepers had the best day ever and for the first time came home with souvenirs to treasure for forever.

This above picture is of Thunder River, which is a favorite ride for all keepers. Both JM and keepers laughed and talked with other people while we were riding the rough waters. We got off the ride thoroughly soaked but the weather was warm enough that we barely noticed. We moved on to the next ride in drenched jeans and dripping wet hair. Our little keepers were in heaven!!!!!!!!!!!

This picture is of our very little keepers riding the carousel. This particular flash of the camera caught our Brandi smiling from ear to ear. Brandi is less than 5 years old and was just having so much fun on the carousel.

As you can see we had on a shirt that said I”M A KEEPER. Our JM bought this shirt for us quite a while ago and it has been worn very seldom. But our trip to 6 Flags seemed a wonderful day to wear it. We got several comments on the shirt but, of course, no one knew the true meaning of I’M A KEEPER which made it kind of fun for everyone in our system.

All in all, this was one of the best days ever for our little keepers. They had never before been given a chance to just be themselves and simply have fun for an entire day. It was so worth the effort. And we are all looking forward to our trip to 6 Flags next year.

peace and blessings,

keepers