2008 Summer Vacation

We made it there... and back with a whole lot of fun in between.

While it was fun, I have officially dubbed it...

"The Vacation Of No Listening"

Then we hear... "I'm not trying to be naughty I'm just so excited!" For the record, we never ever said anything about being "naughty".

We did explain how their behavior was impacting our day(s) and what we all needed to do to improve things. It didn't seem to make a huge impact though as we seemed to be faced with "Do you want to stay here and play with the (insert whatever) or would you like to go to (wherever we were going)." Because really, I know that playing with the lid to the ice bucket does seem like fun. But trust us on this one!

Outside of the highly frustrating transition times, we had a really great time.

Saturday we hung around for Abby & Ellie's final softball game of the season. After their game the team met up at DQ for a little end of the season awards party. Then we headed out of town from there! Spencer was supposed to nap on the way. Carie finally won that battle after we were well into our drive. That night we went to a balloon festival where we saw over 80 hot air balloons setup and lift off. We've never seen that many hot air balloons all at once and it was quite fantastic. Of course they also had a play area for kids with tons of things for them to do. After playing for a bit (and losing and finding Abby) we got some tasty treats and listened to their live music while we waited for the fireworks finale. We had an incredible view! On our way back to the hotel we stopped to get the only thing that we seemed to forget to pack... nightlights.

Sunday was our day to swim at the hotel and check out the Science Center. We did get a lot of swimming in that morning and then again in the evening. Both Abby & Ellie have gotten quite independent in the pool and they had a really great time jumping in and practicing their swimming skills. Spencer kept us busy by getting out and jumping in over and over again. We asked the kids what their favorite parts of vacation were and they all listed swimming as a top contender. I think it was partly due to the fact that we went swimming several times. But the key factor was that it was an indoor and an outdoor pool all in one. We were able to swim through an opening and go inside and outside. That was a huge hit for them! I didn't find it as entertaining, but I was the one who got to escort them in and out and in and out. We then spent a great deal of time at the Science Center. We thought it would be fun but had no idea just how great it would be. At least I thought it was pretty cool. Carie seemed less impressed than I was, but still agreed it was a great place. But what really counted was that after 4 solid hours of playing, the kids did not want to leave! So we promised that we would go back again on Tuesday.

Monday was our full day with plans to go to Adventureland. We saved this for Monday hoping that we would benefit from lower weekday traffic. I don't really know if that made a difference or not, but it wasn't crazy busy and that was really nice. We arrived just after the park opened with no lines and no waiting to get in. The park itself was shaded quite nicely, a huge bonus on the hot hot day. We pretty much stuck to our plans and did the activities at the back of the park that morning / early afternoon. I was surprised and impressed that the kids wanted to ride a huge roller coaster (The Outlaw) so Carie agreed to go on it with them. They were so excited and seemed to have so much fun! We had all of our swim gear with us so we could do Kokomo Kove, which the kids had been eyeing and getting all excited about ever since they found out we were going. Abby & Ellie were ready to hit the big slides but Spencer really wanted them to hang out with him. Thankfully they agreed to take turns sliding with Spencer on the smaller slides. Then while he took a break they both got to do the big slides together. After the water slides we hit a few other key attractions before heading out of the park for an afternoon break. It was time to get out of the heat and have some rest time.

When we returned we found an even better parking spot right in front of the entrance. We rode ride after ride after ride until we closed the park down. Abby & Ellie surprised me again by some of their ride choices! Carie and I both rode a couple rides with them and couldn't do anymore. Our stomachs just couldn't take anymore rides that went in circles! Several of us (everyone but Carie!) left the park soaking wet from the log ride that we rode four times! We then stopped across the street from the park to pick up pizza to take back to the hotel. First priority was to get out of the cold wet clothes! We got the kids stripped and into their warm jammies so they could enjoy their pizza. Our meals (and snacks) were so out of routine that day... from start to finish. We ate at such crazy times but it seemed to work for everyone and the kids were champs.

Tuesday we all slept in, hurray! Thankfully we also got a late late checkout at the hotel. After breakfast we went swimming again before getting cleaned up, packed up, and loaded up. We even managed to get lunch in at the hotel before departing for our day! Our first stop was to the park with the Carousel in it. It looked like it could rain at any time so we wanted to get that in first. The Carousel was absolutely beautiful! The kids rode a few times then played on the playground before we headed back to the Science Center where we spent another 2-3 hours. Thankfully admission was "free" (reciprocal membership) and we could easily go as many times as we wanted. I think we managed to make it through all of the areas, with some getting more of our time than others. But still, we practically had to pull the kids out of there. But it was (past) time to hit the road to home. It was also way past Spencer's nap time, a nap we had hoped he would take in the van on the way home. No dice! Instead we heard him begging for his rock candy for at least 130 miles with small intermittent breaks (our successful distractions) now and again.

We pulled into our driveway at 9pm and played outside for a bit before heading in for the night. After riding their bikes the kids had a great idea to light off the rest of our smoke balls (or bombs as Ellie calls them). That seemed like a nice little treat at the end of our vacation. They got their suitcases with all of their important things unpacked and then headed to bed. It didn't take long and they were all asleep for a good long time. Even Spencer slept in this morning!

No rest for the weary! Thankfully we managed to have the house cleaned up before we left. Now to get everything unpacked and put away in short order! We’ve got a busy weekend ahead of us. Oh, and school starts in just 2 short weeks from today!