Flashback Friday

Oh the joys of being a mom of true boys!!!

Liquid Planet

Man, I'm exhausted just keeping these boys busy. Trying to give them a good summer. Yesterday we checked out Liquid Planet water park. Not too exciting, it's much smaller than Water Country but that's because it's half the price. I would say it was perfect for this age group but not any higher.

They had a 'spray ground' section, which would have been even more enjoyable without the wind we had yesterday.

Noah was able to join us since his mom was far too booorrrriiinnnggg! :)

This was Crater Lake. A fresh water lake with a huge blow up contraption. Due to the wind, half of it was closed down. The other half was a large slide which apparently tipped over earlier in the morning. They still had fun jumping off and sliding like penguins.The two water slides provided most of the entertainment. I had good intentions of joining in until I saw that one of them was enclosed which I have bad memories of from Blizzard Beach Water Park in FL and when I saw someone coming down which reminded me of how fast you come down when you have a little extra 'junque in the trunque' as they say. I love my zoom lens.This is Joshua's big ole splash.Followed up by a big ole smile! Can't say that we will go back, but it was a good time for the day.

Newfound Lake

Several years ago...before chillens...Jim and I explored Newfound Lake in his canoe. It was a beautiful lake, clean and clear, but in a canoe it was much like being in our aluminum fishing boat on Lake Winnepesauki. The choppy water made for a very nervous me.

Well flash forward said several years...after chillens...and we ventured there again. Still clean and clear, but this time with the aforementioned boat :) I got knocked around a bit when Jim was going full speed and it is a bit nerve wracking when you have a motor below water to worry about. Some areas can be quite shallow and you don't really know until you are upon it.

There was one spot not far from the boat launch where a bunch of boats were hanging out. Turns out it was a sand bar with the water being about waste high or so. People were hanging out, swimming, playing frisbee and enjoying refreshing beverages I'm sure. One boat even had a little table out in the water. I think we will frequent that spot again :) And this time I think I'll bring a refreshing beverage. I don't know that I'll be able to swing a table though.

Who needs a diving board??? Though I was much happier to have him do back-flips off Daddy than the front of the boat..which he also tried. Let's just say his head was much to close to the metal boat for my hearts liking!!!

This was a little stowaway we noticed once we got started. It is a tree frog. They make lovely noises at night. We stopped along the way to give him a new tree to live in...bummer :)

Flashback Friday

You'll need to pause the music at the very bottom of the blog before you can hear the video. Then push the triangle to start.

I think if you could bottle up happiness. This is how it would sound.

Beach Day

On the last day that our TN girls were here, we headed to the beach. Last time they were here they loved it. Actually I just came across this picture from another time we came...I can't even believe the kids used to be that small ;*( This time it was high tide and it was crazy!! It's hard to do the waves justice in pictures. It's just not the same, but you can get a sense of how big the waves were by the guy in the water.You can get a sense of the power of the waves from the expressions on everyone's faces in these photos.

Well, you can't see Grammie's face...but you can see she got knocked to her butt and toppled by a wave like many other people on this day.

Jenna really wanted to go in, changed her mind upon getting pummeled by the wave the instant she went in and persevered to enjoy the rest of the time in the water.It was a little too powerful for Jamie to get too far in...which is why she wondered off a little and scared the bejesus out of everyone!!!!!!! I hate the feeling of a missing child on the beach, not knowing whether they are lost or lost forever in the ocean. It truly makes me sick to my stomach. It happened to us once with Jeffrey when he was this exact age as well.He really did have fun. And he really does love his Auntie. I think he thought she was holding him back from a wave. She and Auntie Jeanne kept holding on to his shorts as he was diving into the waves to make sure he didn't get taken away. He promptly returned the favor by punching at them under water :) I, of course, was trying to look good while watching to make sure no one got carried away by a wave, which is why I didn't see Jamie wandering off...

Though...I think I get points for leaving my pocketbook in the car this time and not bringing it to the beach. (I couldn't find that picture for the life of me)

Flashback Friday

This picture reminds me why it is so hard to say goodbye to my sister when she leaves each time.It also reminds me of why I want to lose weight :/

A visit with our TN girls.

Have Barbies will travel. The good part about driving for vacation is that you get to bring more toys right!!! There was lots of Barbie play and to Jim's chagrin...the boys participated too. Auntie Jeanne had to remind him that her girls have played with many of the boys' toys on their many visits. Of course the Barbies don't hold up to boy roughness...so I'm expecting a bill from the girls any day now :) The water was beautiful...like a tub. I even went in several times, on Auntie Chris' raft of course. I'm not chancing that big turtle just yet and the bottom is double YUCK. The water was so low because of the lack of rain that the grass and weeds are growing taller. They love the sunshine.

The kids were busy collecting clams. Unfortuneatly for me...fresh water clams aren't the eating variety. IF they were, I'm guessing there wouldn't be any to collect :)A teenie tiny baby. I'm told they found an even smaller one, but I wasn't game to get off my sunning chair to grab the camera.No visit is complete without a marshmallow fire.Jamie wasn't quite a fan of the fire at first. Seems the smoke always seemed to find her which isn't so good with asthma :/ A great trip with a sad ending...they had to drive back home. I was sitting with Jamie one day snuggling on the beach chair. She said, "I know...you love me. Jenna always wishes you guys would move to TN". I said, "you know what we wish? That you guys would move here. Why don't we just cut out the land in between us?" To which she answered, "Yeah because it's a loooonnnnnnnnnnngggg ride to get here". Love these girls!!!!

The Basin

While Jeanne was up this time she wanted to explore the "Brown Signs" along the HWG. She says she gets excited when the she the brown signs as they mean adventure to explore to her. When she said the basin I was a little leary because the basin is basically a bowl of water that was glacier created but I was pleasantly surprised because I forgot about the cool little 'falls' that are created on the large rock bed. And since the water table is so low due to the rain, it wasn't scary at all.

There were a couple of sections of pools. One was colder than the ocean and slipper but the one they spent the most time on was cool and not slippery.

It was refreshing (So I'm told).

And there was lots of crawling around.

This little rock slide provided much of the entertainment.Jim was actually the first to get the ball rolling on the rock slide after posing here for me.Even Jeanne took a turn...I was living vicariously through her this week.Jamie is being trained well by her momma in the posing for picture arena :)Most people were not prepared for the water. No one knew what to expect since they hadn't been there. I think they still had a good time though because I heard them mentioning they would like to go back to share it with others.Oh yeah, I was there too...as the official photographer. Not feeling too good these days about being in front of the camera :/ Thanks for the recommendation Jeanne. It was a great day followed up by great seafood at the Dairy Bar. I know we will be visiting the Basin again. Any takers???