Provided you read my blog just before Seb’s birthday party, you’ll know that The Froggy Hopper was one of the rides in Birthday Bingo. After the first wave of five or so kids arrived, a handful of parents and I started a small herd through the circuit. First stop: The Froggy Hopper. A small line resulted in waiting a few minutes for our turn. The dilemma: one of the kids was frightened of the ride and wanted an adult to accompany him. Let’s call him Josh. Our turn came… five kids and two adults ran to get onto the ride that can seat six kids and one adult. The other adult, a Chinese woman, was in front of our group and took the adult seat. Josh was left out.

The adult from our group, realising she’d made a mistake about where to sit, turned back but not before we successfully encouraged Josh to take the last remaining seat. The Chinese woman then insisted on having her picture, with OUR kids, taken by the ride operator. This took a few minutes during which Josh figured out he was without a familiar adult. Then the trouble began.

First, Josh wanted to be with someone he knew. Second, there was general consensus amongst the adults from our herd, that the adult on the ride with our kids should be from our herd, not someone else. We tried to explain this to the ride operator but her English was very poor. We then appealed to the other adult, would she mind trading with one of us? No… quite indignant she insisted that she was before us in the line and should therefore have first right of refusal to be on the ride. What was a simple debate or issue turned into a full blown argument. By the way, by this time a second Chinese woman was now in line and slipped ahead of us. This happened while our kids were on the ride and technically "not in line!"

While the argument developed steam, we tried to figure out the perspective of the first Chinese woman. The Chinese can be very superstitious… having your picture taken with six mostly blond kids is a sign of very, VERY good luck. Going on a ride with five mostly blondies would probably be the equivalent to winning the lottery in the luck department. We concluded that the woman never expected the possibility we might refuse to let our kids ride with her since everyone was already buckled in. But that’s what happened next.

Once the Chinese woman refused to move, we made the ride operator pull all our kids off… undo the buckle and strap at one end… then the other end… then raise the bar and everyone slides off. Remarkably none of them seemed too distraught at that idea. Everyone patiently lined up again and the Chinese woman – noticeably angered but trying to put on a happy face – went by herself on the empty ride. The ride ended, the Chinese woman left, and all the kids headed towards the empty seats. Not so fast…

Chinese woman #2 was now in the adult seat. Not sure what was going on with her… no happy face on that person and quite grumpy, too. I suspect there was some sort of cross cultural assessment going on… I.e. she had a not so favourable opinion of us and probably made some conclusions about the proceeding incident. Remarkably we stood there as this lady, clearly mad at us, rode on The Froggy Hopper that was once again empty but for one person. We all stood there in wonderment… this poor woman was not even enjoying the ride. She seemed to be more concerned at being right about not letting US ride!

Finally, our turn came and our six kids and adult filled The Froggy Hopper. However, it was just a bit much for Josh. The operator had to stop the ride, let him off by undoing the buckle and strap at one end… then the other end… then raising the bar and so on. Once again the ride began. Everyone had a great ride and we gave Josh a stamp for bravery and being on the ride even for a short time. Off we went to the next ride.

Not so fast…

At some point in the middle of this scene Jasper showed up and wanted to go on The Froggy Hopper. I had to get on with some party responsibilities, therefore delegated this task to De. But no way, JJ would have none of that – he wanted to ride with Daddy – so back we went onto The Froggy Hopper. A quick success when just at the end Sebastian showed up. BUSTED. When he saw me on The Froggy Hopper with JJ he snapped. I might have had a tougher stance on another day, but his birthday and everything… I quickly ran to Seb and convinced him that we should ride on the The Froggy Hopper right away. So back in the line we went.

Not so fast… JJ wanted in on the action. Sure kid, just jump the que… there ya go, welcome to the team. We finally got on the ride, along with a friend of Seb’s, who like Josh was a little frightened of the ride. So down we came, she got off, strapped the ride back up and UP we went. By this time I was starting to think, "I have GOT to get off this ride.  I am going crazy!"

Not so fast… Sela showed up and immediately went into whinging/crying mode. Something we see a lot of in her these days. "Sorry, Princess, I’m done." She got over it. Needless to say, I didn’t get my Birthday Bingo Card filled up, but I did get about ten stamps for riding The Froggy Hopper! Below is some vid and pics thrown together from the party. Sorry, there isn’t much more than The Froggy Hopper. I think I’m done with that ride for a while. Aiya!

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