Wednesday: Dutch Village

Today we went to Dutch Village.  I almost decided to do something else, but the weather looked perfect and we don't have that many completely free days any more.  (We have days that are a lot free, but not completely.)  Anyway, it was a lovely day and an excellent choice.

But first...the boys were super excited to have found Horizon in a new spot this morning.

I took way too many pictures today.  We mainly went on the rides.  The boys also did a lot of duck pumping and some jumping things.

Ferris Wheel

Pumping ducks.  Isaac really liked these.

Swings

Carasole.  Joshua rode this several times (although to be fair, we rode all of them several times), but changed each time to get the horse with the most gems.

Pumping trains.  This didn't go too badly this year.  We've skipped it in the past because you need a bit of power.  Joshua mainly got through it, although was helped with some bumps from Isaac.

I'm not sure why the word "Bears" is on this sign, but it seemed appropriate since we were by Bear Castle.

We left for lunch/rest time/screen time as it was getting busy and then returned later in the afternoon as it was getting not so busy again.  I had been planning to do this to skip the heat of the day, but it never got all the hot out today.

These are the jumping things I mentioned above.  I don't remember seeing them in the past, but the boys loved them.  They had a hard time staying on them at first and fell off so much, but they laughed the whole time.  I made them take baths right away when we got home, mainly because of these.

Vacation Wednesday: caves

Wednesday we went to some caves.  I hadn't realized that the area was so mountainous until we started driving up and down on our way to get to the house.

On the way we went over a dam.  Dams are cool, but we had just watched a video about dams and how they have emergency spillways.  We were able to find the emergency spillway, which I thought was extra cool.

We got our group picture at the beginning.  We should have let our boys wear their sunglasses.

The place had two SpateoBoxes.  These seemed really cool...you could get a feel for cave exploring without going into a cave.  Isaac did them over and over and over.  Joshua only did the outside one once, because he got stung by a wasp.  He was at the half way point and let out a scream that I've never heard him scream before.  (It took me a second to realize it was him even.)  He said something about a bug, but calmed down rather quickly and came out.  It was only once he came out that I realized his knee had a puffy dot on it.  We found some anti-sting in the old first aid kit in the car and a band-aid (because band-aids cure everything) and he did fine from then on out.

There was a mini-golf course there.  We were some of the first customers because we wanted to beat the heat.  However, it was nice and shady.

Then some of us went on a little hike.  It was very nice, although pretty warm.  Ben decided to stay in the A/C and the boys elected to stay with him, so I was duty-free.

Some of us went up the watch tower.

...and we made it back down too.

 

Meanwhile, the boys did the inside SpateoBox and learned how to play checkers.  I think Isaac has played before, but I can't recall for sure.

Lunch!  Crazy as always but everyone got food.  (After we forgot the bread at home Dusty kindly got some while we went on the hike.)

Ben and Isaac pretending they fell down a hole.

All in!  Every time we get together we do something that is all in...shoes, wristbands, etc.  This time we didn't have anything quite like that so we did our cave tour passes.

 The cave.  It was a vertical cave, which I had never been in before.  (Not that I've been in many caves.)  It was a lovely temperature, especially after the hike.  (Joshua put a long sleeve shirt on half way through, but I was happy in shorts and a T-shirt the whole time.)

Another time through the box.

They got some rock candy for fun.

Then we all went home and to our next activity, a surprise birthday party!  Katy had been in the hospital during her birthday, so Laura made a cake and Heather brought decorations.  (P.S. I think this is the best cake I've ever had.  It was raspberry with raspberry frosting.)

When the kids were in bed we played poker.  We used to play together all the time, so we still try and do so when we get together.  It's almost serious business.  I lost all my money pretty quickly.