A Birth day

Ruby smiled and shook her ehad " I haven't but it sounds like fun , we might see some clown fish oh I do hope so" she said as she took the now cold lemonade from the fridge and added some ice " here I think its perfect now" she said as she pord a glass for him.

Aria chuckled as she walked to the water ring thing. She heard Marcus and shook her ehad " nope I usianlly..." she lent closer to him " fly if I need to get some where" she said then looked at Daria and chuckled " oh that would be perfect " she said and moved with the line until they were at the front climbing in she sat next to Angus with Daria to her right and Ezra to her left she could not help but laugh as the twins got bent out of shape t their hair getting wet she loved the spray against her face and smiled to Marcus. " this is wonderful" she said and loked down at Poppy " its my first ride on this " she said and laughed as a wave washed over them all but she held on to Daria and Marcus.

"Well if we take a trip to Australian you might see some clownfish, but they don't live in the Mediterranean," he said. "Sorry. You might see some parrotfish, though, and they're really colorful. They're a protected fish because they help save the reefs but they still can be cool to see."

"When I first came to live with Dad instead of Mom, he took me to an amusement park, just the two of us, and a ride like this was one of the first ones we got onto," Poppy told Aria. The fact was that Marcus hadn't even known Poppy existed until just about the time Ana left him and left Poppy with him. Marcus didn't have any issues w/ Ana as a mom. She'd been a good mom. It had been that stinking Pavel who was an abusive git. The quidditch star has-been was just a foul, nasty man that had treated Poppy really badly, and Ana had decided, reluctantly, that Poppy was safer with Marcus. And the day he took her to the amusement park without the others she had felt almost right from the start far safer with Marcus than she ever had around Pavel.

It had been a real mindbending thing for her to learn that Pavel was not her real father. Ana had not told her about Marcus. Nor had she told Marcus about Poppy. It had all come to light when Ana had learned of Pavel's actions to hurt Poppy. Then everything turned upside down for all of them--Ana, Pavel, Marcus, Marcus's parents and his kids, and certainly for Poppy.

Poppy had started school almost right after that. She had technically been ten when she started Hogwarts, with special permissions because her birthday was mid September, not before September first. So, for the first two weeks of her first year, she had been just ten. And she was the smallest one in Ravenclaw. She did notice how hard Marcus still worked on getting to know her, and she appreciated it. She would technically be starting her second year this year, but she was not yet twelve. It had only been a year, but just about everything she had ever known had changed in that time.

She looked up and saw a big white boat on a river, and a train, and some sort of an old looking village not far away.

"What's that?" she asked Marcus.

"The boat?" he asked. "It's called a paddlewheeler because of the big red paddlewheel at the back. It was the way people traveled up and down the rivers here in the 1800's. They have some still today because they really are a lot of fun. It looks like it sort of cruises through parts of the park's Frontiertown--which is sort of an old west village."

"Are we going to get to go there and see it?" she asked.

"I dont see why not," he said, as their raft went over the last big drop and everyone in the boat was drenched to the skin. Zack and Kai had had to give up worrying about their hair because they, and everyone else in the raft, were completely soaked to the skin.

Ruby chuckled and nodded "Yeah sorry," she said and smiled as he spoke of the parrotfish she might see " I bet they are beautiful and colorful." Ruby said as she ate her food and sipped her drink.

Aria listened to Poppy and smiled "Well not you have others who will love to come with you, myself included" she said smiling at her " And I don't mind going on any slow rides too, truthfully coasters, I can love them or leave them" she said smiling at her " and its something I would expect Marcus, I mean your dad to do, he a kind caring man." she said smiling as she looked back at him and chuckled seing him and the other now soaked after the final drop. "oh I would love to see the inside of the paddle boat too." she reafirmed Poppys sugestion.

"You know," Angus said. "I didn't mind staying at the house on this island the last time we were here, but it was a bit bigger than I wanted for just two. And, there are some really big, sturdy trees here on this island. I think we could do better for something just for two. I'd like to see an upscale treehouse here. Something hidden back a bit in the trees, maybe with either multiple levels or something that looks really natural, with lots of wood and stone and glass, with lots of things to do--maybe some ziplining or a bonfire or well, I don't know. Just not the same things we have at home--somewhere to look forward to coming to. I can't see Edward objecting to it. What do you think?"

"So far," Poppy said to Aria, "most everbody in my new family does like amusement rides. Dad thinks I'll like coasters better as I get older. He thinks I sometimes get tossed around in them because I'm littler than everybody else. I don't like to go without him because sometimes the safety bars dont' hold me in tight enough, and he keeps me from slipping out."

"As you keep growing, that will stop happening," Marcus told her. "Until then, I don't mind making sure you don't slip out."

"At least they don't measure me to see if I'm tall enough anymore like they did last year," she rolled her eyes as the ride came back to the starting point. "That was embarressing."

"That's because you've grown almost four inches since last year," he smiled. "Alright, what are we doing now?"

"Coasters!' the rest of the kids said. "Come on, Dad! You've got to go with us too!"

"I will," he laughed. He looked at Poppy. "You don't have to ride a coaster if you don't want."

"I'll go--if i've got someone bigger with me," she said, not wanting to slip out under the safety bar.

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled "You mean someplace we can induldge our younger side" she said chuckling "But I do like the idea of a zipline" she said and chuckled " I think a two-story but the top has to have a skylight " she requested.

Aria listened to Poppy and smiled "Well it would be my pleasure to do that too and maybe but the older you are the more you get to choose if you want to go on them or not" she said smiling as she heard them say coasters. "I can hold you tight poppy, stick with me." she said smiling as she offered her hand to her " We can ride it together." She looked at Marcus " As long as it's okay with your dad" she added not wanting to take anything away from him if he wanted to sit with her.

"No, no. Not a kids treehouse. There are some cvery luxurious, five star adult treehouses. I've been in one that was actually a pub, and these guys were brewing some amazing craft beers in it. I've seen others that have hot tubs in them. I've seen some with outdoor showers for two, some stuning fireplaces and stained glass windows. They can be really amazing, and the views are even better yet. I'm thinking about something upscale, maybe with a wine fridge and some other grown up amenities," he told her.

"That's fine by me," Marcus said. "You and Aria can ride together, and I'll ride with one of hte boys. That's fine with me."

"And then we need to find lunch. I'm hungry," Kai said.

"There's a restaurant in Frontiertown that serves some highly rated barbeque ribs. We couild check that out and we'd manage to hit it a little before noon, so we'd beat the noon rush," Marcus said.

"Sounds good to me," Kai said.

Ruby listened to Angus and chuckled " of course , that sounds apsolutly perfect" she said smiling " I wonder howlong it would take to make it?" she asked him " the hot tub under the stars sounds perfect, though so does skinny dipping" she said with a smile.

Aria looked at Poppy and smiled " food does sound good though " she added " lets eat then maybe a slow ride then the coasters , don't want to ride with a full stomach, the people behind us would not aprichiate it." she said with a chuckle as they waked towards the Frontiertown restaurant to eat lunch.

"Oh, maybe the better part of a week, I should think, depending on how complex it is," Angus told her. "Depending how its made, a couple could have complete privacy, even if someone is staying in the house." Having had enough of the snack, he sipped his drink and simply leaned back and looked out at the sky. In the distance he saw some dark clouds. "Storm clouds in the distance. I'll keep an eye on them in case they move this way. If they do, we'll have to go in, but the houseboat is big enough that I don't think it'll roll much. I think it's big enough to hold steady."

"You two could do the riverboat or the train after lunch or both," Marcus told them. "I hear they have some sort of animatronic robots on some sort of display along the riverbanks and the train tracks. You might find that fun. And I don't think there's going to be enough movement to cause any after-lunch issues. The boys and I can find some other rides, like the Matterhorn..."

"Nope, nope, nope," Zane said. "Rollercoasters are one thing but no spinning aound in circles in a car that's racing around a track at the same time. Not right after lunch." That made Poppy laugh. She actually liked those rides, and she could do those any time, lunch or not. Marcus looked at her and saw that she thought those rides were just her speed. Marcus deliberately did not say anything to her because if she wanted to use those rides as a bit of revenge against her brothers, he was not going to spoil it for her.

Ruby listened and nodded having her fill of the snakes she set down her plate and sipped her drink glancing at the sky. When he mentioned a storm rolling in she glanced over " I hope it doesn't roll too much" she said looking at Angus and then back at the dark clouds " seems to be moving fast, should we move inside, we could make a start on some designs for the tree house while we wait for the storm to pass" she sugested to him.

Aria stayed quiet as she waited for Marcus to finish, looking down at Poppy she just smiled "I'm here to help, I'll go on any ride, be the rollercoaster or just the river ride in the steamboat." she chuckled " but I do think food first though." Reaching the Restaraunt she found seats that could fit them all and handed Poppy a menu "If you have room after we could get Ice cream for dessert" she suggested.

"Well, not necessarily. It depends on how fast it's moving and whether its coming this way. I'll keep an eye on it. We have some time yet," Angus told Ruby. "It's still quite a distance off." He accio'd his sketchbook and his pencils.

"That's fine," Poppy said. She went with her to the restaurant. She could smell the tangy barbeque sauce and the smoky smell of the barbequed ribs as they were being grilled. "I didn't think I was all that hungry until I smelled that. That smells really good. She looked at the menu and was amazed at all the dishes. Barbequed chicken. Smoked sausage, Mexican grilled corn, barbequed beans, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and a lot more. "I wonder what the real cowboys eat. I mean, there are still real cowboys in America, aren't there?"