Friday: the Gathering Place and Olympics

As with all days, it started out with mini muffins.  Mini-muffins are a special treat to these vacations and the boys were so excited for them.

Today we went to an awesome, gigantic playground.  (Isaac rated it 17/10, so I'm not really sure there is any reason to continue our playground tour in Holland...)

On the way we saw our first Native American license plate.  I hadn't even realized they were a thing, although it does make sense.

We got to the playground and the first section was this massive castle structure.  It had four different tours, all connected by bridges.  Joshua brought me to the top of the tallest one, then down to its bridge, and then found a "secret passage".  So he climbed the secret passage and told me he'd meet me at the top.  So I went back up the four stories to meet him at the top.  He told me it was for my exercise, which I agreed with.

We stayed here a bit, but not all that long.  It was hot, so we wanted to keep moving a bit.

Then to the splash pad for a short time.

Then the water play area was open, so we all went over there.  There were pumps, dams, rivers, rocks, and it was rather amazing.  The other wonderful thing was that it all worked.  Again, we didn't stay super long because it was hot and we had other things to do, but the boys probably could have spent the whole day at the park no problem.

When we came home the boys were still in their swim suits and I was a ball of sweat, so we all jumped into the pool for a quick cool down.

After a significant rest time, we had some Olympics.  After a torch ceremony, the events included jumping off the diving board, silliest jump off the board, fastest swim across and back (the short way) and basketball.  We then had slip-n-slide, three-legged race, sack race, disc throw, and limbo.  Joshua won the limbo and he was so excited.

Award ceremony!  We can't have Olympics without medals.  Everyone got four, but they were all so proud to go up and get them.

We had some Japanese food for dinner and watched a sped-up version of the opening ceremonies.  The children were allowed to stay up as late as they wanted, but after a movie (ending at 10:45) Joshua completely crashed.  Isaac stayed up to play a game, but went to sleep right after that...at the same time and Ben and me.

Thursday: guys day

Today the guys went out.  They went to a shooting range, had Indian food, did an escape room, and then snuck back into the house for some video games.  Overall, it seemed like a successful day.

The rest of us went to the science museum.  It was a rather small science museum, but it ended up being just the right size for the time we wanted to spend there.

There was a packing tape tunnel/slide.  It used 10miles of tape to make.  The slide wasn't really that slippery, but that was good since kids were going down it in crazy ways and multiple kids at a time.  Joshua went through it many times though, so it was a hit.

There was also a 'floor is lava' section that all the kids enjoyed.

Joshua made a sawblade boss.

Then we went into the second room. 

After lunch we got in the pool.  Joshua's been so cold when we go in late afternoon with shade, so we decided to try earlier.  Everyone else joined us.  I only have one picture because I got in too.  There was a sliver of shade that I used as my home base in the pool.  :)  While going in was the perfect choice, the main reason I went in this time was because I had Joshua skip his life jacket for the first time.  He loved it and practiced going under water a ton.  Isaac didn't put his life jacket on the whole time, which surprised me a bit.  Usually he's been starting with it off and then putting it on.

After a short rest time, we did balloon animals.  I wasn't a great teacher because it's been a while since I've done them; I just remember that they were relatively easy.  First up: an oath.  To not attack, capture, put in prison, or make surrender Ben or me with their swords.  (The other parents were on their own.)  The swords went pretty well.  Then we tried to make dogs.  Those only went ok, possibly because I forgot to make a neck.  They were still animal looking things though.  At that point it was pretty much everyone on their own.  We made a few giraffes, Greta made a few more dogs, and Dagne went to town making up her own things (it was rather amazing).  Most of the children slowly moved on to other things, and then Isaac came into his own.  He made a flower and an amazing four-balloon sword.  He also made a balloon sword called "destroyer" for Seth.

Oh, and hats.  A lot of hats were made.

Once the kids were in bed we played Dominion.  The first game went so fast...there was so much money in each hand and multiple buys and some people were managing to get two colonies per turn.

Wednesday: lady's day

Today the women went off on our own.  The guys stayed at the house with the kids and did extra screen time, made paper airplanes, played, and went in the pool.

We started with a delicious brunch...that we all shared.  The food was delicious to start with, but then to get some sweet and some savory was wonderful.

We had some time to kill so we went to see a sculpture of some praying hands that had been recommended to Katy.  I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much so they ended up being pretty amazing.  The were significantly larger and more life like than I had been picturing.  They also sort of looked like they were plotting instead of praying, but that's just how it goes.  Wikipedia says they're the largest bronze scuplture in the world, so they were worth the stop.

Next we went ziplining!  (Katy is the only one that brought her phone and I don't have those pictures yet.)  It was perfect.  It seemed pretty standard as ziplines go, but it was fun!  We also didn't have to break ourselves which was lovely.

We next decided to continue to brave the heat and go to the nearby botanical gardens.  They were very pretty...and quite warm.  We did it justice though, walking through most of it.

Our photographer in action!

After dinner we just chilled.  Some kids worked on a Lego set.  Some of us played some games (including Azul with the correct rules!).

Tuesday: Airplane party

Today we had a birthday party for the older kids in an airplane!  I told Joshua yesterday that we were going to a freezer and so he should wear long pants.  But then he heard the other kids talking about an air and space museum, and so he couldn't decide if we were going to the museum or to a freezer.

Anyway, Isaac was definitely not expecting a birthday party.

Isaac tried really hard to get the intercom system to work, only to decide that it was turned off.

Then we had a dance party and planetarium show.  I learned a lot about Pluto...there are water volcanos and the nitrogen atmosphere condenses during the winter and then it doesn't have an atmosphere.

We had a little stomp rocket activity which turned out really cool.  Joshua's rocket went really high on the first try and Isaac needed to make some modifications, but everyone had a good time stomping.

Then we had lunch and went to explore the museum.

The air museum wasn't all the large, but there were a lot of cockpits to sit in.  Unfortunately, Joshua wasn't feeling great and I ended up carrying him a lot...although the snuggles were nice too.

After naps, dinner, and a velociraptor encounter, the kids went in the pool.  The adults stayed out because the weather was perfect and getting in the pool would be rather cold.  The kids just don't seem to mind.

Joshua also got his glow ball out and loved it.  He took a picture of it in the dark and then showed everyone.

The adults played poker after the kids were in bed.  We're still doing a $5 buy in like grad school, but our income has increased and so betting a quarter just to see the flop doesn't seem like such a big investment.  There was a lot of laughter, but what happens at poker stays at poker.