Idlewild

Jeremy had work in Pittsburgh.  We had basically gone nowhere as a family this summer.  We took a few days to head to Pennsylvania and do something fun.  We told the girls we were going somewhere, but we didn’t tell them where.  We headed our on Friday, July 30th sometime in the afternoon.  WE made one stop for a work site for Jeremy, but otherwise we just went directly to the hotel.  We got into the hotel in time for bedtime.  Before we woke the next morning, Jeremy was already out the door taking care of a second work site visit.  When he returned, we loaded up and headed out. 

Not until we pulled into the Idlewild parking lot did they know where we were and even then they didn’t know what to expect.  This amusement park wasn’t one we had talked about much, but we had heard good things.  It is for the younger kids, and we thought if we were going to go, now would be the time. 

Madison and I enjoyed a very spin-y ride to start with.  Our next stop was a climbing obstacle.  We all did this rope climb. 

         

Then, we headed out to see Storybook Land – a walk filled with nursery rhyme characters and scenes.  It was fun to see.  It was also interesting to me because there were some things I don’t remember ever knowing.  As a kid that read Mother Goose, this surprised me.

                      

We grabbed lunch after that because we were all very hungry.  Found a somewhat calm ride to ease into rides.

Then, we tackled the Wild Mouse.  It was an iron roller coaster.  The thing was crazy though.  It whipped you around these tight switchbacks and lurched you to stops for no apparent reason.  It was not my favorite.  Madison and Ellie note how they feel in the picture. 

Surprisingly, Ellie recovered and wanted to try the other roller coaster on site.  I think it was called the Rollo Coaster.  It was much more traditional and more fun.  They may soon be ready for Cedar Point (nor sure if I will..). 

I think their favorite part of the park was the Soak Zone.  I don’t think I have pictures – phones/cameras and water don’t mix.  We started with the wave pool – a winner.  Then, headed to the water slides – tube slides where you could go down on either single or double inner tubes.  Jeremy went with Madison; I went with Ellie.  You launch through a waterfall of water into a pitch black tube.  My breath was sucked out of me and I was petrified.  I heard nothing from Ellie, so I assumed she, too, was scared.  I started trying to say calming things to her – or me, not really sure.  We popped out at the bottom and she was READY FOR MORE!!! So was Madison and Jeremy.  Me, not so much.  I did go one more time, but for the most part watched them.  We also went down the big water slides – more like the one at the fair you take a burlap sack on.  Those I really liked.  We returned to the wave pool one more time.

We grabbed a treat before leaving the park.

All good things come to an end.  It was a good getaway for us. 

Stan Hywet Hall

Sandy often offers to take us to Stan Hywet each year.  While it is not something I would say I look forward to, the girls do enjoy it (and once I am there, so do I).  This year, we went and enjoyed both indoors and outdoors.  Sandy shares little tidbits that she learns from the docents and tours.  the girls are entertained by the scavenger hunt and the uniqueness of the décor.  

         

We ended the day with milkshakes from Swensons.  Thank you, Sandy, for your effort to make my kids more culturally adept.

Summer Bucket List

(I am not sure I have ever been this far behind, so the date this is posted reflects nothing about the time period these events happened. I think most of them happened the end of July, beginning of August.)

It all started because Ellie accused me of always saying no when she would ask for something. That’s our jobs as parents, isn’t it? Crush the desires of our kids. Just kidding. I don’t feel like I always say no. And I am pretty sure that it was an exaggeration. However, it did make me think about whether I said more than I said yes, and if that was true, why was that?

My conclusion? I probably did say no more than yes because I am not really good at spontaneous things. Ask anyone. It isn’t that I don’t think that the things would be fun, but it’s that it wasn’t what I had planned. And it takes awhile for me to adjust.

So, I told the girls they had 4 weeks until the end of summer – 28 days. They could pick three activities a week that they wanted to do. I would schedule them onto our calendar. I would be saying yes 12 times….

Reality set in after they made their lists and I realized that the 12 things were really 24 things because there were TWO of them making lists. Ugh. I could do it, right?

Here’s a sampling of the things we took pictures of. I think we managed to get through almost everything that we could. There were one or two sleepovers that we just couldn’t arrange.

Ellie started her fun with a sleepover with Avery. She had a few more, and every one of them was a little different and just as fun.

Madison had less sleepovers, but wanted to do more shopping days. She and I went antique shopping and craft store shopping. We stopped during one trip to sample a cake pop from Starbucks.

    

Then, we had the BIG sleepover night. Madison had two friends (Gretta and Ellie) and Ellie had two friends (Kennah and Kasey). I had 6 GIRLS in my house!! Me. The one who hadn’t hardly had a sleepover prior to this. The door swung wide open for this night. It was great though. Madison’s crew hung out in the basement. Ellie’s crew stayed on the main floor. They both built forts, did face masks, and watched movies. It was actually a pretty easy time.

            

Ellie had Bailey over the night of Kidron Fun Night. I had forgotten what that night was like, but it was fun – softball, face painting, cotton candy, balloon animals, train rides, and more!

                 

They wanted a joint sleepover with our new neighbors. We started with a pool date at some friends’ house. That morphed into a sleepover that happened after everyone was fed supper at their own homes. (Sometimes that is the hardest part is figuring out what to feed people.)   

    

Ellie had Bailey over the night of Kidron Fun Night. I had forgotten what that night was like, but it was fun – softball, face painting, cotton candy, balloon animals, train rides, and more!

                 

The grand finale was the bake sale! Ellie and Lilli had worked hard baking ahead of time. Anabelle came over to help frost cupcakes the day before. Pepper looked longingly on.

    

Then, on a Saturday morning, Jeremy set up a small canopy to protect from sun and the small threat of rain.  I ran to the Dollar General to grab some poster board and serving trays.  The signs went out to the corner, the tables went out, the cookies, cupcakes, and crafts were put on display, and the girls were energized for the morning ahead.  While sales started out slowly, they did improve.  Some girls were go out biking and try to round up customers at other garage sales.  My Facebook posts to invite people out brought a few familiar faces our way as well.  People were so generous and kind.  I enjoyed just talking with people.  The girls enjoyed the transaction – bagging things up, counting change, etc.  They made out pretty good, even with a good chunk going toward the local animal shelter and being divided six ways.  Mostly, they had fun.

And that was the summer, plus the additional posts I’ll put up.  I like my idea of the bucket list, but it was a bit much to cram into a short time.  Maybe next year, we will do it slowly over the whole summer.