Summer evenings have been spent congregating in our backyard lately and the kids love every minute of it! Ryan and I even took advantage and ate dinner inside, just the two of us, as we watched from the sliding back door. Win/win!
We made the long week an extra day longer last week and headed to Ohio for some amusement park fun with the family and asked Auntie Kate to join us!
The kids were SO excited to be there!
First stop was the Woodstock Express roller coaster. All five of us rode it together and had a blast!
Not every ride we went on was as thrilling!
Maverick, Auntie and I rode the train while Phoebe and Ryan went to ride the Flying Ace Aerial Chase. Phoebe became our little daredevil at the park while Maverick preferred to stay a bit closer to the ground!
This is as close to flying as we got!
Ryan wanted to ride the tall swings more than anything else. Auntie drew the short stick and rode with him! I'm so glad I got to keep my feet planted safely on the ground!
After the swings, Phoebe convinced Ryan to go on the Vortex. She loved the entire experience but then promptly decided she wasn't a fan of going upside down six times!!!
We stuck to this roller coaster from that point on!
Good thing they're easy to thrill!
I have a feeling they're going to follow in their daddy's footsteps with the swings!
We also did the log ride and Maverick, Auntie and I got soaked! It was only natural that the kids would want to stand on the deck for another water ride to see how wet they could get!
After dinner and a quick stop at Graeter's for some ice cream, we snuggled in for the night.
Friday morning after breakfast, we headed to the pool. Auntie tried really hard to get Phoebe's face in the water. Three minutes after we arrived at that night's swimming lesson, Phoebe was fully under water so I know it had a LOT to do with Auntie's efforts earlier in the day!
Of course no trip to Ohio would be complete without Ikea and Jungle Jim's!
Maverick got a hold of my phone on our trip home. This was his picture of Ryan.
Maverick LOVES to poop in public places. It's truly horrific some of the things that come out of his mouth while he's popping but I choose to laugh through it (and pray that we're the only ones in the room at the time). In an attempt to clean our hands before dinner, Maverick turned to the hand dryers instead of the faucet and was pretty entertained with the results!
Saturday morning, we got up and headed to the CarmelFest parade. We got spots right on the street but failed to bring a blanket or chairs so the kids entertained themselves while we waited for the festivities to start.
The man in the red hat kept throwing whatever candy he caught our way and now our house has more candy than we do at Halloween!
After the parade, we headed to the kids' area for some fun!
Auntie met us in time to go to Westfield Rocks the 4th.
MORE bounce houses!
Ryan has his job cut out for him!
Face painting!
Obstacle courses!
And a car show!
After dinner we headed home to grab a quick, much needed bath and put our pjs on. Then we headed back out to find a good spot for watching the fireworks from a safe distance.
We've never had the kids stay up to watch fireworks before. Between the late nights and the loud noises, they just weren't ready. I think we've finally reached the age where it is FUN to stay up and watch them! And we're lucky enough that they still sleep through them when they're still going off at 11:30 at night!
Sunday we made it to the 11:00 service at church and then headed to YiaYia and Papou's! See the sparkler in his hand? He's so festive!
Phoebe loved throwing Gryphon the frisbee!
The Greats joined us for lunch and afterwards, Grandma tinkled the ivories. She had a great day and impressed us with her ability to still play and sing!
Not to be outdone, the kids performed "Twinkle, Twinkle" and a few other songs.
When we started in with "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," Grandma got to her feet to dance.
LOVED the joy she was radiating! What a great weekend celebrating our country's independence and spending time with precious family!
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