...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Today, we went to Silver Dollar City in the 100+ degree heat. As we walked around on the asphalt (hot, black, tar asphalt), I realized that a lot of the rides at SDC are like cheap knock-off versions of a theme park populated with a certain mouse. I mean, flying elephants? spinning tea cups? Evidently, those rides are the formula for success because they were two of Ben's favorite rides.

He also really enjoyed the kiddie rides he could ride without a grown up. The butterfly (much like the flying elephant, but smaller), the frogs (they "hopped"), and some really lame ladybugs (all they did was go around and around... I'm pretty sure I jog faster than they moved) were all in his top 5. Of the grown up rides, he like the Flooded Mine ride (ride in a boat and shoot bad guys with guns).

Things were going well, sweaty, but well. We had some lunch and decided it was time for some water rides. As we arrived at the river ride, the guide asked Don to take Ben off his shoulders to check Ben's height. And then it happened. Neither of us realized that there was a ceiling fan just above Don's head and in the second that Don raised Ben up, Ben's head came into contact with the fan. At first, I thought he had just bumped his head, but then I saw the blood oozing down behind his ear and down his neck.

After a mildly panicked moment, we dashed to the first aid station. By this time, Ben had stopped crying, but his head was still bleeding all over his shirt and Don's shirt. I can not say enough nice things about the nurses and staff in the first aid station. They were quick to make Ben feel calm and did a great job getting all the important information without scaring anyone. What we thought was a sliced ear turned out to be a gash on his head just above his ear. The nurse chatted with Ben about Batman, Spiderman, and Power Rangers as she cleaned the area and took a closer look. Another staff member went into action to get Ben and Don new t-shirts to replace the bloody ones. Still another staff member promised Ben ice cream for being so brave and filled out a coupon for all of us to have free ice cream at the homemade ice cream store.

The nurse had told us that she had a little boy who was 3 1/2. When she got the cut cleaned up, she had me look at it and told me it was "borderline" for stitches. I asked what she would do if it were her son and she said she wouldn't put him through the trauma of stitches. Whew. So, she put some hydrogen peroxide spray (how cool is that?) and some neosporin on his noggin. Because the fan hit Ben's head, they asked Ben some questions and checked his responses to some tests for a head trauma. All the while he was chatting up a storm and charming the pants off the whole office. Our nurse asked (with a huge grin) if we thought he was responding "normally". When we confirmed that, yes, that's our boy, we set. The boys changed shirts, they bagged the others, and we were on our way. And, would you believe that we didn't have to pay a single dime? Not even for the t-shirts. As much as everything else at SDC costs, I was sure we had run up quite a bill. Nope. Just a "have a nice day."

So, we will put our plans to visit White Water (water park) on hold until Wednesday or Thursday to give Ben's noggin time to heal. Ben wanted us to take pictures of his head and can't wait to wear his SDC t-shirt (which is camouflage and says "Wild Thing"... how perfect is that?) and tell Riley the tale of his visit. (Not sure why it was Riley he was dying to tell, but he mentioned it almost as soon as he stopped crying and has reminded me several times since.) I know those are photos you can't wait for me to post.