Thanks to Paul Nelson and the Waldameer crew I had a great Mother's Day this year. Waldameer kicked off the summer season early -- before their traditional Memorial Day opening day -- and opened this past weekend from Noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There was even a coupon in the newspaper that gave Moms free admission when they purchased a child's admission. After that, each admission was buy one, get one half-off.

Always a sucker for a good bargain and aching to spend some time on Mother's Day doing something fun with my girls, we hightailed it out of church and got to the park by noon so we could spend a few hours before making the rounds to our moms' houses.

It cost $37 for four of us for a Waldameer Ride-O-Rama (Waterworld doesn't open until this weekend). Kelly, who's always been tall for her age, is now officially over the 42" mark, so we had to pay the higher price ($16.95) for her. At first, I thought $40 was kind of steep -- especially when you throw in $4 a gallon gas that we burned driving all the way to the peninsula from the East county -- but it didn't take long for me to think it was worth every dollar. (And, hell...$40 wouldn't have gotten two of us into Splash Lagoon! )

It was sprinkling here and there and kind of cold, but we had a blast. The girls rode ALL the kiddie rides and, to my surprise, many of the ones they were afraid to ride last year -- like the Kiddie Roller Coaster and the Frog Hopper. We even took them on the Wacky Shack ride. Kelly was able to ride the dodge 'em cars since she was tall enough. Little sister Lauren -- who is much shorter, but way more adventureous -- threw a fit because she couldn't ride. I confess to warding off a full-blown late-afternoon tantrum with a bright pink bag of cotton candy.

The best part about the whole day? There were NO lines! We didn't wait for one ride all day and, often, my kids were the only ones on the ride. When we rode the giant ferris wheel, we kept moving the whole time ... no stopping and starting to let other riders on and off.

My husband and I, noting the meager attendance, wondered if Mr. Nelson would choose to open early again next year. He likely lost money this weekend -- there were probably more employees there than visitors (at least in the few hours we were there). But, he made this Mommy (and Daddy) and two little girls very, very happy.

For once, I had a Mother's Day with ups and downs that were worth the price of admission.