Six Flags Accident

Theme Park Review tour rides Six Flags Great Adventure coasters | Philadelphia ...

JACKSON, N.J. - Robb and Alissa Alvey always dreamed of globetrotting, but neither expected to be traveling by roller coaster.

Since 2005, the couple have been organizing group vacation packages centered on amusement-park tours and reviews. Now they twist, loop, and roll their way through six trips per year that have taken participants from theme-park-saturated Florida to Scandinavia and Japan.

On Thursday, the Alveys, accompanied by 120 hard-core coaster enthusiasts, swung through Jackson to try out the attractions at Six Flags Great Adventure.

"They have some of the best in the world at this park," Robb Alvey said.

Leading the group's must-ride list were El Toro, widely known as the smoothest wooden coaster in the world, and Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster in existence, rising 456 feet and traveling from 0 to 128 m.p.h. in 3.5 seconds, according to park spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher.

Rides like that helped Jordy Krijgsman, 20, of Rotterdam, Netherlands, decide he had to make his first trip to America on a Theme Park Review tour.

"It's always been a dream for me to come to the U.S. to ride those big coasters," he said. "In Holland, they have rides, but not as big as in the U.S."

Krijgsman wasn't the only foreigner along for the ride. Robb Alvey rattled off a list of visitors from Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Spain, Australia, and a host of other countries.

Tour members rolled up to Great Adventure at 8:30 a.m. and rode coasters unimpeded for two hours before regular guests started trickling in.

They had to rise early after staying late at another park the previous day, true to their routine. Krijgsman said he gets most of his sleep on the bus.

A misty rain dampened the park, but that didn't deter the group.

"We're the type of group, rain or shine, we can find a way to have an amazing time at parks," Robb Alvey said.

Jacqi Crouse, 41, of Orlando, joined the tour despite having torn a knee ligament in a trampoline accident seven days before the trip began.

7, 6, 5 & scooting around - Creature Bug

Seven little kids scrambling around (and then the two older boys make up the nine Family Farm cousins).

So, I doodled in a favorite literary friend of ours. Mo Willems fans will recognize him. (Hi Pigeon!)

Oh, and the masks are from my parents. They got them in Scotland (or somewhere in the UK) when they visited my sister in June.

Would you believe me if I told you we planned our Six Flags trip just so we could get this photo?

Maybe you would, considering I did make all the cousins dress up as nativity scene characters.

Truthfully, however, it was just a happy accident. Six at Six Flags. It was as if Addie dreamed of it in her sleep and it came true.

Last photo, courtesy of our garden produce and catching us *finally* up to date:

Squash! Zucchini! And a cucumber! Which I don't think is technically summer squash, but Adelynn would not let go of that cucumber without a fight.

I'm not fighting over a cucumber.

A tomato or a green pepper? Absolutely. But not a cucumber.

At eleven months old, Addie is very mobile, though not walking. She's a fabulous eater, a terrible sleeper, a loud squawker, quick to smile and wave, and thinks it's hilarious when she bites my shoulder. She has a quirky way of crawling around. Actually, she doesn't crawl. She scoots. And she spins. And then she scoots some more. We like to call her Scooter McGavin (ala Happy Gilmore ). Or sometimes Baby Hunchback of Notre Dame. I doubt she'll appreciate that moniker when she gets older, so maybe we'll just stick with Scooter.