Well, I learned a lesson today.  Even if you've been to a place a hundred times, if you haven't been there for 10 years you should check to see when they're open before you go.  I was sure they opened at 8:00, so I thought we were getting off to a little bit of a late start.  We arrived at Kings Island just as they opened the parking lot at 8:30.  We did get a good parking space, though.  We walked up to the ticket sales counter, but they didn't open until 9:00.  We waited there and were the first in line to buy tickets.  We then walked over to security to get in, but they didn't open until 9:30, so we waited some more.  When they let us in, we could only go as far as some of the souvenir stores, but the park didn't open until 10:00.
    Once we finally got into the park, though, we had a great time.  We started on my favorite ride, the Vortex.  Alex had never been on a real roller coaster before, and I wasn't sure if he'd like it, but he loved it.  We went from there to the Racer, then the Adventure Express.  We decided to slow it down a little bit and went on the Congo Falls water ride.  Then we were ready for more roller coasters and went on the Son of the Beast.  It was about noon then and we stopped for some lunch.  We decided to head back to the Vortex and stopped at the bumper cars on the way, then saw the Back Lot Stunt Coaster.  It didn't really look like much fun, but that is one fast ride.  We finally made it back to the Vortex, but the line was long and we decided to play some of the carnival games.  Alex won a few prizes and we headed out to the car to drop the prizes off and get our swimsuits.
    We ended up walking to the waterpark, which was a mistake.  I was already getting tired from the morning rides and that long walk about wore me out.  The first ride we went on in the water park, Down Under Thunder, had a long line (about a half an hour to get to the top) and just as we were ready to go, we were told Alex couldn't go on it because he had a metal rivet on the side of his swimsuit.  The was a sign that said this at the beginning of the line, but we didn't see it, so we had to walk back down and find something else to do.  I ended up buying Alex a new swimsuit and we spent several hours at the water park.  Unfortunately, the park was now fairly crowded and it was taking a half hour or more to get on each ride.  My back was sore and my knees were aching, so I let Alex go on several rides by himself, then we changed and went back to the rides.  Alex went on the Vortex once more while I waited for him and it was time to leave.
   On the way back to my parents, we stopped in Lebanon OH, where two of my cousins own the Village Ice Cream Parlor (www.villageicecreamparlor.com) and had dinner.  I really had just stopped to see my cousins, but I should mention that the hamburger they served was excellent.  While we were there, Alex called his grandmother and told her to check out the parlor's web cam, too.
    Alex and I really had a great day (he's already planning next year's trip to King's Island), and I think a great start to our adventures we have planned for the week.