vacation Monday: more fun

 We started out our day in the water park...sort of.  It doesn't open until 10, and guess who wakes up way before then?  Pretty much all of us.  Joshua and I started working on a scavenger hunt.  He's always the person I can count on to walk around and explore whatever place we happen to be in, but the scavenger hunt helped to give us purpose.  We got all but two items, but by then we needed to get back to the room.

I don't have many pictures from the water park, but my notes say we had a great opening!  The lines weren't too long, so Isaac and Ben did the Flowrider and Joshua and I rode the water coaster in the back a few times.  

We eventually met up and eventually tried all the rides, including a twister ride.  It always had a line, and it shot you out into a funnel and then you just dropped about four feet into the pool.  We did it a few times throughout the trip, but it wasn't our favorite.  There was also a tube ride that was only open once in a while: we finally got on it and it was not exciting.  A calm ride.  Ben and Isaac did the extra big drop slides, where you stand on a floor and then the floor drops out from under you.  Joshua and I had no desire to do that; so Joshua got me on the FlowRider because the line wasn't too long.  It was ok.  I'm glad everyone else was enjoying it, but I was content watching.

During this time Ben also managed to get a cut on his big toe.  He was walking quickly, trying to get to some friends before they disappeared, slipped, and cut his toe on the floor texturing.  The nearby life guard was helpful, but the supervisor that he called to actually help (because the life guard was life guarding) was not ideal.  Oh well.

We ate lunch in our room.  The room had an extra three feet between the end of the beds and the tables, and it was wonderful.  We were able to spread out just a little bit more.  We also tried to eat two meals in the room to save a bit of money and I thought it worked really well.  Between a decently sized mini-fridge and a microwave you can do a lot.  I brought a lot of paper stuff so we could just throw it away, but also some containers for left overs.  I actually brought way too much food, but at the same time I'm not sure I'd bring any less.  

After lunch we went to the outside waterpark for a bit.  It was sunny out, so it was busy!  We tried all the water slides, but only once or twice.  We didn't do the big one from yesterday because the line was way too long.  We then joined our friends at Tom Foolery's for a little bit.  (Joshua did not enjoy this ride, but I did!

We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and it was so fun!  There were Lego sets (official sets and stuff they made) by the tables as decoration.  And a train brought the food and drinks to your table!  It was an excellent choice.

We went back to Tom Foolery's afterwards for a little bit.  We played a few more games.

If I recall correctly, we also went back to the water park near closing.  It wasn't super empty, but we rode a few rides and enjoyed the hot tub.

Joshua was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.  (We had altered his bedtime back a bit the week before.  He can usually handle staying up late on vacation, but we also needed him to sleep in.  He did a great job.)

Tuesday: laughter

My favorite thing lately is hearing the kids laugh together.  They've been playing a lot together yesterday and today and they kept laughing about something.  <3

Monday: summer is fun

I did some work today.  Groceries.  A load of laundry.  A load of dishes.  Actually making dinner.  Ignoring the rest of my to do list.

But I did a lot of fun stuff today too!  We went to Tunnel Park with some friends.  I took a nap.  We went to the Bookish Olympics at the library.

I got the most pictures at the library, so that's what I'll talk about this most today.  It was a drop in event, so we went at our own pace.

One event was book tower building.  The kids had the tallest tower when we left.  They worked well together.

Then book discus.  They took old books and let people throw them as far as possible.  It was fun.  There was one book that definitely went the farthest.

And in other news, there are a lot of boxes around because no one is cleaning them up.  The cats enjoy them.

Sunday: birthday

Today was Joshua's birthday and he was all about it.  He patiently waited for gifts until after church, but was pretty done after that.

Isaac went on a wrapping spree one day and made him all sorts of presents, including one with four Lego eyes, one with one Lego 1x1 plate, and one with a rock.

Snacksalotl was a big hit from Nathan and Liz.

While a few of these are Isaac's, I don't dare look in his bed anymore; I'm not sure how there's room for him.

Back row: Snacksalotl, Gnome (Isaac), Sven, Pluto

Fourth row: Steve (Isaac), Creeper, Pickachu, ??, Glitch

Third row: Tiger, Giraffe (Isaac), Grey Bear, Elephant, Blue Bear

Second row: Catpachino, Square*

First row: Poke Ball, Otter, Spark**

Not pictured: Giraffe2, because he isn't allowed out of Joshua's bed so that Giraffe and Giraffe2 don't get mixed up

*I made Square, which is really a poor rectangle, one night when all the lovies with sateen were lost.  It was a five minute project, because it was bed time.  I'm still rather surprised it's still around.

**Spark was lost behind the printer for about five years.  Lost, but not forgotten.  There was great rejoicing by Joshua when he was found.  

I made Joshua play outside for a little bit because he's been inside a lot this weekend.  Then it started to rain.  We decided to stay outside.  Then it started to rain hard, so we hurriedly packed up.

Saturday: rock climbing competition

This morning Isaac had a rock climbing competition in Grand Rapids.  His coach said that Isaac should be in the beginner category.  He flashed (completed on the first try) nine of the ten beginner routes and took three tries on the last one.  The video below was the finish of the hard one; it is definitely better with sound.

Anyway, since that took less than half the time to do those routes, Isaac started to do the intermediate routes.  These were the routes that he had the most fun with.  There was one that everyone has falling off of on the third hold (left foot in picture below).  Then one person figured it out and apparently there was a foot twist that Isaac needed to do.  A few tries later, he got it!

Then there was about 30 seconds left, but if you were on the wall you could finish your attempt.  Isaac started a pink one that he had gotten half way up earlier.  Time was called when he was about half way up and he went on to finish it!  It was a great way to end the morning.

Later, we got this fun text:

We had discussed the possibility of this happening, but decided the drive would be too much for just standing on a podium.  Also, we didn't get the text until 3:55pm, which would make the 4pm arrival rather hard.  

In completely different news, I solved the Mini NYT crossword puzzle in a record time!  I think my previous record was 35 seconds and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go much faster than 17 seconds.

Friday: blueberries and computers

 We went blueberry picking with Aunt C this morning.  The picking was fine.  I somewhat bribed them with ice cream because they weren't very excited about it.  Isaac shared his with me, so that was nice.

Ben had found a new computer for Aunt C too, so we got that started after picking.  I went over in the afternoon to finish getting stuff setup.  I think it went well!  The internet connected well, the printer connected after I turned it on, and we got the bookmarks set up.  

Thursday: home

We're home.  I was supposed to be all productive and stuff today but instead went to a playground with friends and took and nap and went rock climbing with Isaac.

It was a very nice day, even if the big chores were ignored.